Tales of a Sassy Pyromaniac
by KeysMiniYum
Summary: When Anni messes up her final exam, she is thrown into another dimension. She lands in a bar in a pirate obsessed town. Working there, she meets two strange men and they explain to her the meaning of nakama. It sounds good to her but she has one question. What's with all the pirates?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any other Anime/manga that I reference.

A/N

Anni: So guys, this is a fanfic that I'm gonna be writing by myself. Kate and Laura won't be in this story, but we are going to be continuing The Reason We Are Here Is What, Now? all together, so don't worry.

If you haven't read it you should check it out, but there is no connection in the two stories except for my character and the very beginning. For you guys who haven't read our other story, here is a summary of our background:

**Me (Anni), Kate and Laura are from an inter-dimensional academy where we trained for five years as the only humans in the entire place. We took our final exam that would allow us to be a kind of police for the different dimensions, so that giant wars don't break out between dimensions. Unfortunately, we don't get special treatment as police because our current job is secret. We can't tell people who we are, but we are keeping peace in smaller countries and large cities. After our exam, of course. That's what we plan to do if all goes well. During our exam, we made a small mistake with our powers and ended up being thrown into different dimensions.**

**Recap of my powers: I have fire-style elemental powers, can open portals between dimensions and I can teleport.**

P.S. All pairings in other stories have never happened in this one.

* * *

Anni's POV

I woke up to the clattering of bottles. My head hurt like hell, but I pushed the pain away and sat up. Actually, my whole body hurt like I had been beaten up really bad. Where was I? I looked around and saw that I was in what looked like a storage room for some kind of shop. The room was filled with boxes and shelves, most of which were filled with food and sake.

Prying open one of the boxes, I grinned. It looked like I had fallen into the back room of a bar. The box was filled with bottles of sake, and by the look of it, it wasn't cheap. Wow, if I had fallen onto one of those boxes, I would be working here for at least a week to pay it off.

Suddenly, I felt my stomach drop. I stood up and turned around slowly. The clattering sound I had heard when I woke up turned out to be the sound of bottles of sake smashing on the floor. My head had broken the side of one of the boxes, and there was at least four broken bottles on the floor complete with a slowly spreading puddle of booze.

Footsteps from the hallway behind the door completed the moment. I was lost, and now dead. Yay for luck.

The door creaked open as I stood there in the middle of the catastrophe. I racked my brains trying to think of some excuse for my predicament, but nothing came to mind. I was just gonna have to wing it like usual and hope for the best.

The person opening the door was a short, wide, and grumpy looking lady. She had frizzy black hair done up in a ponytail and lots of makeup. She wore a beige shirt with a brown coat and dark pants, and the expression on her face said that she was ready to clobber anyone who disagreed with her.

As she took in the scene of me standing in the room with broken sake bottles all around, her face slowly reddened to the point that I didn't want to even try and make an excuse.

"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO MY STORE, YOU PUNK?" She screamed.

Not waiting for an answer, she grabbed me by the cheek and hauled me into another room with a set of drawers, a desk, and a chair. Forcing me to sit down, she rummaged around in a drawer for a minute and turned to me with a terrifying expression on her face, and a piece of paper in her hand.

Slamming it down on the desk in front of me she glared at me.

"Sign."

I read the paper that she was giving me and I felt a little uneasy.

Looking up, I cleared my throat. "Um..."

Her head whipped around. "Whadda ya want?"

I swallowed. "Isn't two weeks full-time a bit over-kill? Miss?"

Her expression hardened even further and she brought out another paper. "Alright then missy, since you're so keen, then I'll shorten it to one week, but you have to work nights as well."

Expecting me to decline, her jaw dropped when I said, "Alright, sounds fair."

She sounded less angry as she said, "You do realize that this means you will get very little rest, and you will work hard, right?"

I nodded. "As long as I get a place to sleep and some food, I'll work as hard as I can."

She nodded. "Now sign and scram. You've gotta clean that storage room fast."

I signed the paper and turned to leave, but the lady spoke up before I could go.

"And you might want to do something about that nasty cut on the back of your head before it gets infected."

Confused, I reached up to touch the back of my head, and was surprised at the redness on my hand as I pulled it back. It was probably from when I crashed into the box, but it was no biggie. I could fix it with the small first aid kit that I had in my bag.

"Don't worry, I'll fix myself up later." I grinned. "Nice to know that you care, though."

The lady scowled. "Get moving. You've got work to do!"

XxX

After I had cleaned the storage room, the lady introduced herself as Clara. She had run the pub for ten years with her husband, and had two kids named Cathy and Nico. Nico was three years old and Cathy was five. They both had short curly brown hair and loved to act like pirates, which seemed like a trend in the town. Sometimes when the pub was nearly empty, Clara would send me upstairs or outside to look after them and make sure they didn't get into trouble when they tried to steal 'treasure'. Mostly shiny rocks, but sometimes they would go to the river nearby and try to get small pieces of quartz from the bank.

One time, Nico nearly got swept away by the current as he stretched to grab a rock. Cathy tried to jump in after him, but before she could do anything, I used my powers to teleport into the river. However, my fire-style powers don't work that well in water, and I had to swim to the shore.

Clara was angry with me for that. She scolded me for not keeping a eye on them, but let me off work for an hour as I dried off.

XxX

A week soon went by, and we were getting along well, with the occasional whack to the head for not paying attention, working too slow, or sampling the sake without permission. Eventually, the day came when I could leave. I had no place to go, so I stayed working at the pub for a little bit of money.

A few days later, I heard a commotion outside the pub. Running outside, I saw two men fighting over which way to go. One had blonde hair and one had green hair, and it seemed like the blonde was winning their fight. That soon changed when the green-haired one took out a katana, and started attacking with it still sheathed.

Despite the fact that they didn't look like they were fighting to hurt each other, I was still worried about the people who might get in the way. Running up to them, I used my fire-style powers to block the attacks from both sides with my arms.

Their angry looks turned to ones of surprise as they realized that their attacks hadn't connected with the person that they were meant for. I dropped my stance and looked at them with the expression that I had learned from Clara. I looked them both in the eyes and said, "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

The two taller men bowed to me with a muttered "Sorry.".

I softened my expression and said, "Why don't you come and discuss it like normal people in the bar?"

The green-haired one grinned and nodded. "Sounds good. Let's go, Love Cook."

I was confused. _Love Cook?_

The blonde scowled. "Don't call me that, Marimo."

_Marimo? What was with these people?_

I shook my head. "I don't know what you guys are doing, but I have to get back to work. Come in if you want to, stay out if you don't."

As I walked back into the pub, I felt the two men look at each other, shrug, and follow me in. They sat down at the counter as I poured them each a drink. Resting my elbow on the counter, I asked, "So, you two seemed to be having some problems with directions. Where were you trying to go?"

The blonde glared at the 'Marimo' who was drinking his sake very fast. "We were trying to get to the docks to get back to our ship and our nakama."

I raised one eyebrow at the foreign word. "Nakama?"

The green-haired one slammed his mug down. "What do you mean? Nakama are like your family. They're the ones that take care of you and are always with you. You can trust your nakama with your life, and a true nakama will never betray you."

_So kind of extreme but, okay. Sounds nice to have these 'nakama'._

I was distracted from my thoughts by the green-haired one refilling his mug for the fourth time. I grabbed the bottle and said, "Hey, that's gonna get expensive real quick, and I don't know your names so I can't chase you down if you leave without paying, which I expect you'll do 'cuz you don't look too rich. So you've got two options. Tell me your names and pay, or try to run away. I guarantee that you won't get far."

The green-haired guy rolled his eyes while the blonde's eyes had stars in them as I went to get a notebook.

"Don't worry, barmaid-chan. We'll pay for everything!" He said, practically wriggling in his seat.

Ignoring the honorific, I raised the pencil in my hand. "Alright. What are your names?"

The blonde jumped at the opportunity to speak. "I am the great cook and lover of ladies, Sanji."

"Okay." I wrote down the name and turned to the other one. "And you?"

The sake-drinker sighed. "Zoro."

_Sanji and Zoro. These guys are much better than the normal customers._

Totaling their drinks, one for Sanji and seven for Zoro, the amount was higher than I expected.

"So you guys owe me 4000 beli. Do you have the money for it?"

Sanji took out a wallet packed with bills. "Yes, barmaid-chan!"

Handing me the correct amount, he whacked Zoro on the back of the head.

"Ya know, marimo, if you had money, I wouldn't have to pay for everything you buy."

His head snapped around and he yelled, "Yeah, well if Nami would give me money, then I could pay for stuff myself."

"Don't insult Nami-san like that!"

"I didn't insult her. I just said that if she wasn't so stingy with money, I could afford decent stuff!"

"What was that, bastard?"

"You wanna fight, Love Cook?"

"Yeah, marimo!"

"NOT IN THIS BAR, YOU WON'T!"

They both turned to look at me as I stormed out from behind the counter, grabbed their cheeks and dragged them outside. A handy trick to learn. I mentally thanked Clara for her attitude that I had picked up.

I dumped the two on the road in front of me and was about to start lecturing them on their behavior, when I heard a two high-pitched screams from above the bar. The three of us spun around as a shadow flew from the top of the building to the other side of the road. I immediately recognized Cathy and Nico under the arms of a big man.

He was about 6"5 and was very muscled. His face was ugly, with a scar running down his nose and one ear missing. Two other men jumped down from the rooftop to his side.

He laughed and said, "We're holding these little squirts ransom. Tell the old owner that if she wants them back, she's gonna have to pay 500,000 beli. Bring it to the old cemetery at sunset today. Or else..."

He shook the kids and they squealed.

"Please help us, Anni-san!"

"Beat these guys up for us, Anni-san!"

But before I could make a move, the three men had gone. I turned to Sanji and Zoro, who were still sitting on the ground, and scowled. "You two can fight, right?"

Zoro nodded. "Hell yes we can."

I grinned sourly. "Then you're gonna help me kick these guys' asses to the moon. Sound good?"

Sanji smirked. "Fine by me. We're gonna teach these guys a lesson they won't forget."

* * *

A/N

Anni: And... cut! I'm not used to writing this long by myself. Although, it is easier with just one person's perspective.

I hope you guys like this first chapter. I decided to try solo writing and I think it came out okay. If you guys like this idea, then I would be delighted if you would let me know your ideas for events to come. I'm thinking about following the plot and adding in things like Easter, Valentines day, Christmas and New Years holidays at the corresponding times. I'll see you in the next chapter, which will hopefully come out in less than a week.

See ya!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N

Anni: Thank you guys so much for the support! It makes me so warm and fuzzy inside to know that you're enjoying this story!

To pizzafan123: It's more about nakama but there will be a few fluffy parts.

To casie200: I will try to update at least once a week, if not more.

Enjoy!

P.S. I'm not caught up with the plot of One Piece yet, so if I make up a Devil's Fruit that is used later in the series, please tell me so I can change it.

* * *

Anni's POV

Leaving Zoro and Sanji in the street, I ran back into the bar.

"Hey! Clara!" I yelled upstairs.

"What is it? If it's about those guys that took Cathy and Nico, then scram!" Clara yelled back. "You three have got some ass-kicking to do."

Grinning, I sprinted back out to the road where the two men were waiting.

A voice drifted out from the bar behind me.

"And be back in time for dinner!"

As the three of us ran towards the cemetery, Sanji turned to me and asked, "So what's it like hanging around that lady all the time? She seems ready to kill anyone, anytime. That said, why're you going to fetch those kids instead of her? Or just leaving it to us? I don't recognize your face from the wanted posters, and I don't think that a marine would work as a barmaid."

Feeling sort of overwhelmed by all the questions, I replied, "I'm just Anni. Act first, questions later."

Then, grinning, I said, "I'm the one going to get the squirts because if I left it to two rookies and an old lady, nothing would get done."

"Hey! Who're you calling a rookie?" Was the chorused response.

Zoro grinned and looked over at me. "I like your attitude. After we get the kids back, you've gotta tell us why you're so confident. Unless, of course, that was all talk."

I glared at him. "You'll see. And you have to tell me about this pirate obsession that's going on in this town. It's seriously confusing."

Nodding, the two men continued running in silence.

XxX

When we reached the cemetery, we found the three men waiting for us just in front of the entrance. Seeing us come up, they glared when they saw that we hadn't brought any money with us, but their leader started to laugh.

"So you three must think you're pretty hot stuff, coming to stand up to the Hitoshi Brothers. If you don't have that money we asked for, you should go home and get it. It might save your pretty faces."

He smirked, obviously thinking that we were no match for him and his subordinates.

I thought about what he said for a moment, and then a thought struck me.

"Hmm... pretty faces as in plural? Are you saying that you find these two guys' faces pretty?" Grinning at everyone's discomfort, I continued. "Are you saying that you're gay?"

The man's face reddened like a tomato eating chili peppers.

"NO YOU STUPID PUNK! I AM HITOSHI OF THE HITOSHI BROTHERS! HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME LIKE THAT?"

I shrugged innocently and looked away. "That's just what it sounded like. I'm just stating the obvious 'cuz no one else was gonna."

The three men in front of me cracked their knuckles and growled.

"You've got some nerve, talking to us that way." The one on the left said.

The one on the right nodded silently, pulling out a pair of giant machetes. They looked furious, and I was willing to bet that if I provoked them some more, they would lose their cool and be easier to beat.

Relying on my allies' improvisation skills, I turned to Sanji and asked, "You said you're a lover of ladies. From your experience, what do you think about this man's life?"

Acknowledging what I was doing, he lit a cigarette and sighed. "I think that from his reaction to what you said, you were probably completely right."

I nodded and turned to Zoro. "And you? I can guess that you've hung out with Sanji for a while, and from that, you must have picked up some things. What do you say?"

He scowled at me. "I'll be damned if this Love Cook is rubbing off on me... but I think he's right. This guy is totally gay."

The three men in front of us were nearly quivering with anger at our comments.

My expression turned to one of demonic excitement. "Alright! Let's get started! I call the big guy."

Zoro nodded.

"I'll be there to back you up if you need help, barmaid-chan!" said Sanji, trying to reassure me.

I rolled my eyes and-

-blocked a punch coming straight to my face. The impact sent shivers down my arm. Man, this guy had one killer punch! I would have to ask for his exercise routine later, after I beat the crap out of him of course.

I looked at him with The Clara Glare and he might have flinched a little.

"Oi. I wasn't done talking yet. Geez, people have got to have better manners than this." I said conversationally, and kicked him in the gut.

He flew across the path and thudded into the metal fence surrounding the cemetery. Coughing up blood, he said, "Better manners, eh? You insult me, call me gay, try to interfere with my plans, and you have the guts to say I have bad manners?"

I grinned with an evil look in my eye. "Yep. Ya know why?"

He struggled to his feet. "No, and I don't care," he said, jumping towards me and sending a roundhouse kick at my stomach.

I dodged not so gracefully, tripping on a loose rock. When I regained my balance, another punch was coming my way. I grabbed the fist heading towards me and redirected it's force into a nearby tree. The man managed to dodge the tree, but crashed into another one just behind it.

I scowled and said, "It's because you tried to interfere with the lives of my friends, demand money that you didn't work for, and threatened innocent people. For that you deserve to never see daylight again. Fortunately for you, I'm in a merciful mood today, so I think I'll just hand you over to the authorities and let them do the dirty work."

The man laughed. "I'll admit that you have a solid punch, but what will you do about this?"

He started to shake, and the injured parts of his skin slid off to reveal yellow-green scales underneath. He grew a foot or so, but his limbs seemed thinner and more bendy than before. When the shaking finished, he looked like a cross between a snake and a human, but with the same face.

_Eeeewwww..._

I just stared, horrified at what had happened to the seemingly normal man. Had he taken some sort of genetic enhancement drug?

"Okay, skipping the 'eew', what the hell happened to you? You're a ... humasnake." I said with a grossed out look on my face.

The 'humasnake' looked absolutely furious with his new nickname. "I'm not a humasnake, I simply ate the Hebi Hebi Fruit. I can turn into a snake and adopt the powers of this amazing reptile, using them to smash your face in."

Confused with this 'Hebi Hebi Fruit' buisness, I decided to just roll with it. I leaped across the path between us and experimentally punched at his face. Or, where his face should have been. He had stretched his neck to the side at an unnatural angle to avoid the hit. My fist hit the tree and stuck momentarily in the tree bark behind me, but a moment was all that was needed for the humasnake to slither up my arm and trap my body. I struggled, but I couldn't move an inch.

Suddenly another great idea struck me. "Okay, I've changed my mind. You're gay and a pervert." I hoped that this would work like the last one and get him all riled up.

"What?!" He let his grip slide a little, but that was all I needed to squirm free.

Unfortunately, the snake transformation made him faster than I expected. He caught my ankle and I fell to the ground with a _thunk. _

He laughed at my ungraceful fall. "You don't stand a chance against me in this form."

Hmm... snakes didn't like fire, right? So if I lit myself on fire, I should be safe, right? I was on a roll with these great ideas! This was my third this fight. I tried to not overuse my fire-style powers, but this was definitely the time to use them.

Closing my eyes, I concentrated hard on my spiritual energy, or whatever you want to call it. I felt the fire burning inside my mind, and coaxed it out. I didn't have automatic control over my powers and they could sometimes rage out of my control, but that didn't happen often.

I opened my eyes and grinned. I loved this feeling of overwhelming power. Focusing it, I willed my body to light itself on fire. I had never burned myself before, not counting the time I accidentally rested my hand on a frying pan when I was learning to make pancakes. Yeah, that was embarrassing.

The eyes of my opponent widened when he saw the flames raging around me.

"W-What are you? Are you a d-demon?" he stuttered, backing away from me.

I smirked. "I'm not sure about that, but what I do know is that I'm gonna kick your snake ass to the moon and back. Forget the authorities, you're not even worth it."

As I started to run towards him he cringed and was about to yell something, but I punched his gut and he went flying into a boulder. Following the path of his flight, I appeared and kept rapid-fire (no pun intended... or maybe it was intended) punching him until a red haze crossed my field of vision and all I wanted to do was make him feel the pain he deserved for hurting my friends.

Suddenly, my arms stopped moving. The haze cleared, and I could see Zoro and Sanji each holding one of my arms back, slightly wincing at the heat of the fire surrounding me. In front of me was something that resembled a burnt, bloody, almost dead snake-humanoid.

Horrified at what I had done, I extinguished the fire that was burning away at the men's hands. Stepping back, they released my arms. The bloody mess in front of me slid to the ground.

I felt sick at my own actions, but then I remembered that he had threatened the people that I felt a responsibility to protect. Even if I couldn't quite justify my actions, he had hurt people that I was close to, and he had deserved it.

Jolting out of my zoned-out phase, I saw that Zoro and Sanji had piled up the three bodies. All of them were slightly groaning, which meant that they were alive.

"How did you..."

Sanji smirked. "You asked us to explain the pirate obsession. It's not an obsession. There are pirates everywhere, and we're some of them. This is the age of pirates."

I struggled to comprehend that fact completely. "Okay..."

With a sigh of relief, a wave of fatigue washed over me and I slumped to the ground, but then I remembered that Nico and Cathy were still somewhere.

I was almost too tired to breathe, but I managed to murmur, "We need to go find the kids. They've gotta get back for dinner..."

I heard a laugh from Sanji. "Don't worry your pretty little head about it. Zoro just went to get them."

I fell the other half of the distance to the ground. "Thank goodness... but are you sure he'll be all right?" I asked, tiredly, "Doesn't he have some kind of problems with directions?"

The world was slowly turning black, and the last thing I saw was the blonde running in the direction Zoro had taken with a, "Shit! Who knows where that marimo will end up!"

XxX

I woke up to two little hands poking my face. I sat up in confusion, and stared at my surroundings. I was in the upper level of the bar, lying on a couch in the small family room with Nico and Cathy's concerned faces looking up at me. They had expressions of pure joy on their faces as I looked around.

"Yayyy! Anni-san is okay!" Came the piercing squeals as they danced around the room. "Yay! She beat the bad men! Yay! Yay! Yay!"

The door opened and Clara came in, followed by Zoro and Sanji, who was holding a bag. Clara looked at me with a proud look. "I'm very proud of you for taking down that gang. You did a very good job, BUT WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK HAPPENED WHEN I SAW YOU BEING CARRIED IN HERE HALF-DEAD, AND THESE TWO YOUNG MEN TOLD ME THAT YOU'D TAKEN DOWN THE LEADER OF THE HITOSHI BROTHERS!" She screamed at me, obviously worried.

I bowed my head. "I'm sorry for worrying you, but I was just protecting my friends. You and Nico and Clara have been like my family for the past week and a half, so I was only doing what was natural." I looked up with a grin. "I'm glad that you cared about my health though."

She glared. "By the way, these young men have something to talk to you about," she said, gesturing to Zoro and Sanji. "so we'll go get lunch. And by the way, you were back in time for dinner."

With a smile, she ushered the two dancing kids out of the room.

I turned to the two men. "You want to know what happened, right?"

They both nodded silently, with serious looks on their faces.

I sighed. "Well, even I'm not sure, but when I activated my fire-style powers, it triggered my pent-up rage at that guy. All I could think about was what he had done to my friends and I wanted him to feel the same pain that they were feeling. If you guys hadn't stopped me, who knows what I would have done," I said, staring at my knees.

Sanji coughed. "Well, it's just good luck that it worked. I mean, you were on fire and we aren't exactly fire-proof."

It was then that I noticed the white bandages wrapped around each of their hands.

"No. How bad are the burns?" I asked, with a horrified look on my face.

Zoro spoke quietly, like someone was going to overhear our conversation. "We weren't burned as bad as you think. We figured that it was because you were so focused on the fight in front of you that we didn't feel the full force of it. You were directing it at Hitoshi, not us."

I thought back to the event. "Yeah, that was probably a big part of it. Also, I think it was because I think of you guys as my friends as well, and I didn't want you to get hurt. The fire probably responded to this and avoided burning you as much as possible."

"Anyways, we wanted to tell you that we took the men to the authorities, and this is your reward." Sanji dumped the bag I had noticed earlier onto the couch next to me. "1,000,000 beli."

I gasped at the amount. "Whaa..."

He grinned. "It's the guy's bounty. We decided you deserved it 'cuz you took him down yourself."

I had never earned this much money in such a short time in my life. It felt ... unreal.

Zoro grinned at me like I had done something incredibly dumb, but smart. "Also, you made a name for yourself through that fight. They're calling you the Demon's Daughter, Anni."

I laughed. "Well, it could be worse."

His expression changed to a slightly darker one. "But if you do this again, you might get a bounty on your own head. That would mean people could try to do the same thing as Hitoshi, but to try to get to you, instead."

I thought about it. If it happened again, I would do the exact same thing. And then get a bounty. And then people would hurt Clara and Nico and Cathy. I couldn't let that happen. But what if... no. That couldn't happen. They wouldn't.

Sanji smiled like he knew every thought in my head. "We talked about it with our captain. He has something to ask you."

As the door opened again, I was surprised to see a teenager with black hair, a red vest, and a straw hat walk in.

He smiled. "Hi! I'm Luffy. Zoro and Sanji told me about you. Come be one of our nakama!"

_Nakama? Me?_

* * *

A/N

Anni: Sorry about the cliff hanger, but you can all guess what happens next. I decided to cut it of here 'cuz it was getting a little long. I love the feeling that you guys are enjoying by my work, and I hope to keep you entertained. I want to have the next chapter out within a week like last time.

P.S. Hitoshi's name is a pun, because it means level-headed or calm.

See ya!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N

Anni: Sorry for the wait. I had a few writer's blocks for the chapter, but I hope it's okay.

To pizzafan123: Yes, I totally agree. There's almost too many romance fanfics for One Piece, because the only 'romance' in the first 400 episodes is when Robin tells Zoro that he looks good while babysitting. And that Sanji/Zoro almost-kiss in the Davy Back Fight.

As always, enjoy!

* * *

Anni's POV

_Nakama? Me?_

Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy stood there, waiting for my answer.

It was obviously the best choice, but was I really ready for it? Was I strong enough to be a pirate? But over all, would it keep the people that I cared about safe? If I got a bounty, Clara, Nico, and Cathy would be in danger. But if I went with these pirates, they could take care of themselves and I could maybe be a help to the crew.

As I sat on the couch staring at my knees and trying to decide, the door opened and in walked Clara, Nico, and Cathy. The two little kids were sniffling and Clara even looked slightly sad.

"Anni-san?" Nico piped up.

Cathy continued. "If you're going, you gotta come back to play with us."

I smiled sadly. "Of course I'll come back. And maybe I'll bring back some real treasure for you guys."

Luffy pumped a fist in the air. "Yosh! Now you're one of our nakama!"

I stood up and hugged Cathy and Nico. Straightening up, I gave Clara a quick hug too.

"Alright. Cathy packed up your room for you, so you're all ready to go," Clara said. "So get going before I change my mind and keep you here forever!"

I nodded, too choked up to speak. I opened the door and walked down the stairs to the entrance of the bar with my bag slung over my shoulder. Walking out onto the road, I turned and waved at the people that I had come to know and yelled, "If anyone asks, this bar is the home of the Demon's Daughter, Anni! And I'm gonna come back stronger than ever!"

With that, I followed my new nakama to the docks, not looking back once. Why? I had promised to come back, and I wasn't the kind of person to break a promise. As I headed towards my new adventures, I had only one thought.

_This is gonna be freakin' awesome!_

XxX

The ship that I was about to board didn't look much like a pirate ship. It had a goat face on the front, and was smaller than I had imagined. That said, the crew was also smaller than I had thought. From what I had seen, there was the captain, Luffy, the cook, Sanji, and the swordsmaster, Zoro. They said that there were 'a few' people waiting for them, but combined with the size of the ship, 'a few' could even mean two! Plus... I really hoped that there was at least one girl other than me. Spending the next few years with only boys wasn't the ideal situation.

Suddenly, I realized that the three crew members had already climbed onto the boat.

Luffy looked over the side and yelled, "Oi! Are you coming? We've gotta introduce you to the rest of the crew!"

I climbed up the side of the boat (they had all jumped) and pushed myself up onto the deck. What I saw was more or less what I had expected. There were three people that I didn't recognize.

The first was a girl about my age with bright orange hair. She looked grumpy, but smiled at me when a looked at her. My impression? Eh. I bet she's nice, but kinda bossy.

The second was a man with a really long nose. He flinched when Sanji glanced at me and whispered something to him. I only caught a few words like _lit on fire ... beat him up ... scarier than Nami ... Luffy ... new nakama ..._ but it seemed that Sanji had meant to scare him when he flinched at every other word. He looked at me with a terrified face. My impression? Okay. Kind of a scaredy cat, but he's gotta have some talent to be on this crew.

The third was a girl with long blue hair. She smiled in a friendly way when I glanced at her, and didn't seem scared in the least. My impression? Nice, friendly, but not exactly pirate material.

Then again, who was I to judge these people? I was just the pirate rookie.

Luffy spoke up in his enthusiastic way. "Yosh! Everyone, this is Anni! She's one of our nakama now, and according to Zoro and Sanji, she can light herself on fire and fight really well. Zoro said she could beat Sanji and Sanji said she could beat Zoro." He laughed. "Anni, these are our other nakama."

He pointed to the orange-haired girl. "Nami. She's in charge of the money and navigation, and she's kinda scary."

The girl whacked him on the head. Grinning, Luffy pointed to the long-nosed man. "This is Usopp. He's the sniper, the gunner, and the inventor."

I waved at him and he ran behind Zoro with a "Save me!"

As Zoro tried to untangle himself from the clinging Usopp, Luffy introduced me to the third member of the crew. "This is Vivi. She's the princess of Arabasta. We're gonna bring her back to her kingdom and stop the civil war there."

Struggling to comprehend all these facts, all I could say in response was, "Uh huh."

Luffy ran to the goat head and sat on it. "Yosh, everyone! Let's go!"

Everyone scrambled to their positions while Nami yelled instructions to them. A little overwhelmed, I stood in my spot while people rushed around me, doing ... ship stuff.

I finally decided to try and help. I turned to Nami, who was giving the orders.

"Nami, is there anything I can do?"

She looked down from the deck she was standing on.

"Hmm. Do you know anything about ships? Is there anything that you're especially good at?"

"Fighting. Burning. Drinking. Sleeping. Eating. Volleyball. I don't have any idea how to operate a ship." I replied bluntly.

Looking around her, Nami didn't seem to find anything for me to do. She spoke loudly over the wind. "I think they're almost done. You can go inside for something to eat if you like." She smiled. "Don't worry, we'll teach you about ships soon enough."

Nodding, I walked up the stairs, past her, and into the cabin where I found a Sanji cooking at small kitchen and Vivi sitting at a table in the back of a nicely made room. There was a refrigerator, a rack for wine and beer, a bunch of barrels that probably had food in them and a pole sticking up from the floor with another goat head on it. I had no idea what it was for so I didn't touch it.

Pulling out a chair, I sat down at the table just as the rest of the crew poured in.

"SANJI! FOOD!" Luffy yelled, crashing into the chair beside me.

Nami, Zoro, and Usopp sat down at seats around the table. My stomach growled at the smell of cooking fish. As everyone looked my way, I said, "What? I'm hungry. I haven't eaten since... umm... " I counted the meals that had past, "Yesterday's lunch."

Luffy's eyes grew wide at the thought of not eating for so long. A plate was set down in front of me by a black-sleeved hand. When I looked at the food, I thought that it must have been pre prepared because of the elegance of the arrangement. At a second look, it had to have been made only a few seconds ago, as indicated by the steam.

A voice jolted me out of my awe. "Food's made for eating, not staring at."

I looked up to see Zoro with an already empty plate.

"Ah. Okay. Umm, did Sanji really make this? It looks amazing." I said hesitantly.

He stared at me with an unbelieving look. "Yeah? Well, it tastes good too, so eat it before Luffy steals it all."

I glanced around to see the black haired captain grabbing food from other plates with an impossibly stretched arm.

"How are you doing that stretchy thing?" I asked, taking a bite of my food. It was really amazing.

Luffy laughed. "I ate the Gomu Gomu Fruit. I'm a rubberman."

I concluded that these special fruits were rare, but not uncommon, because I had already met two people with their abilities. Or I could just be lucky.

Zoro slammed his plate into the table. "Sanji! Seconds!"

Not to be outdone, I ate my remaining food quickly and put down my fork. "Me too!"

Sanji grinned as we both dug into our food, eating as fast as we could.

"Thirds!"

"Fourths!"

"Fifths!"

"Sixths!"

"Sevenths!"

"Eeuugh. I'm gonna barf."

Reaching my limit, i stumbled outside to hysterical laughter from everyone. The wind was cold, but refreshing. As the waves passed by, I could see fish under the water, and the occasional thing that was too big for a fish. I walked down the stairs, up the other set, and sat on the deck, contemplating what had happened in the past two weeks.

XxX

So. I had apparently fallen asleep on the deck next to the goat head, and had partially fallen through the baluster holding the railing up, but before I could fall into the ocean, Zoro had caught one of my feet. I was now hanging upside down by my ankle above the water with all my blood rushing to my head. After all that food, now I was really gonna barf.

Zoro pulled me back up onto the deck where he dropped me on my head.

Rubbing my head, I scowled. "Oww... you could have warned me."

He grinned. "But where's the fun in that?"

"So you think that dropping me on my head was more fun than _not_ injuring me?" I said disbelievingly.

Laughing, he said, "Yeah, plus you're fun to annoy." He stopped laughing and stared at me. "And you were in my spot."

I felt a bit disconcerted that he was so serious about it, but I decided that I would avoid that spot next time. Or... maybe I wouldn't... mwahahaha...

"Anni?" Vivi had come to see what was happening. "That expression is kinda scary..."

I realized that I was grinning demonically at the thought of getting the swordsman back for dropping me on my head.

I shook the expression off of my face and smiled. "Sorry. Do you know if there's anything to do, aside from falling off the deck?"

She laughed. "Well, no ones on lookout duty. I suppose you could do that."

I nodded. "'Kay. What am I supposed to be looking for?"

She bent over slightly from laughing. "You go up to the crow's nest and watch out for islands or other ships. We're heading towards a place called Little Garden, so I suppose there would be a lot of trees and forest material."

I turned to the mast and began climbing up the ladder. "Forests... I used to live near a bunch of forests. They were always so peaceful and quiet. Not that that's likely to happen with this bunch. They're too loud for 'peaceful'." I murmured to myself as I reached the top.

Seeing a spyglass laying on the ground, I picked it up and directed it towards the front of the ship. Looking through it, I couldn't see anything except for clouds, sky, and sea, so I decided to modify the spyglass a little.

Heating my hands to the melting point of glass, I focused the heat into the glass, bending it so that it would have a farther range of view. I blew on it quickly to cool it, then raised it to my eye. The range was improved greatly. I could see objects about five times larger, and now that I looked hard, I could see a tiny green smudge on the horizon.

"Oi! Everyone! I see an island! I think that at the rate we're going, we'll be there by tomorrow's lunchtime!"

Cheers erupted from the deck below me as everyone ran to the bow to try and see the island. Not seeing anything, Nami looked up and said, "I don't see an island. Are you sure you saw it?"

"Yeah." I tossed the improved spyglass down to Nami, but accidentally-on-purpose missed, and it landed on Zoro's head. Revenge was sweet.

I heard a muffled "Oi!" as I ducked down to conceal my laughter, followed by a "You did that on purpose, flame-brain!"

At that, I couldn't stand it any longer and I burst out laughing. Poking my head over the side of the crow's nest I yelled, "You deserved it for dropping me on my head, marimo!"

"Pyromaniac!"

"Katana man!"

"Freaky fire lady!"

"Shitty swordsman!"

There was a chorus of 'Oohs' at that one, followed by a rumble that made everyone forget about the name-calling contest.

"W-what was that?" Usopp stammered.

Sanji lit his cigarette and sighed. "It felt like a volcano."

Jumping over the edge of the wood, I stood on the mast beside it to get a better view.

Luffy's eyes lit up. "A volcano? Awesome!"

Nami whacked him on the back of the head. "You would die instantly if you jumped in a volcano."

"How did you know that's what I was thinking?" Luffy asked with a laugh.

Usopp sighed. "We've known you for long enough to predict almost anything you do."

At this, my laughter started up again and I lost my foothold on the mast. The rumbling started again and I slipped off of the mast ungracefully, landing on a trapdoor that gave way under my weight. I stood up and took in my surroundings. I was in a messy room with four or five hammocks and a couple of couches. From the amount of clothes strewn around, I figured that this was the boys room.

"Anni, what are you doing? This is the guys room." Vivi had come running when she heard the crash. There were also a few other heads looking down at me.

I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. "Well, the volcano rumble shook me off of the mast so I fell and I happened to land here. Man, this room is almost as messy as mine. If Kate and Laura were here they'd definitely say..." I trailed off as I realized that my friends weren't here.

Sanji stretched out a hand to help me up. "So, can you tell us about these Kate and Laura people?"

Taking the hand, I climbed onto the deck and paused.

"It's okay if you don't want to. We won't press the matter," said Nami, looking concerned.

Shaking my head, I stood up and looked at my nakama. Sighing, I said, "No, it's okay. Kate and Laura were my friends before I came here. We spent a lot of time together." I left out the small detail of arriving from another dimension. But that wasn't a big deal. I was here now, and I was here to stay.

Looking off into the distance, I saw the smudge of green that I had noticed before. There was a small pillar of smoke rising above it.

I pointed and said, "Hey, there's smoke above that island. Do you think that's where that rumbling noise is coming from?"

Luffy grinned. "There's a volcano on the island that we're going to? So cool!"

I turned around to whack him, but instead got a face full of sunlight. The sun was setting, and tomorrow we were going to arrive at the volcano island.

Remembering something, I asked, "Wait. You guys said that this island was called Little Garden, right? What kind of things live there to make it sound so... ominous?"

"Well, this lady told us that there were creatures that live on the island that are so big that the island seems like the size of a garden to them." Nami replied. "It sounds like there are huge creatures the size of dinosaurs."

"Woah! Dinosaurs? Will we get to meet one? Maybe it can be our nakama!" Luffy fantasized.

Nami, Vivi and I smacked him on the head. "There is no freaking way you can get a dinosaur on this boat without it breaking!" We yelled in unison.

Watching with amazement, Zoro elbowed Sanji. "Oi, love cook. Looks like Luffy has a bigger impact on girls than you do," he teased.

Sanji's head drooped. "I'm a failure." Then he straightened. "No. I must not give up on my life's dream! After finding All Blue, of course." I could practically see the flames in his eyes as he spoke.

"Saaaaaaaaanji! Make me some food!" Luffy shouted from inside, banging his fists on the table. "It's dinner-time! Din-ner-time! Din-ner-time! Din-ner-time!" he chanted.

Sanji looked ready to cook the captain as he walked to the kitchen.

"Stop chanting already, rubber-head."

The rest of us grinned at each other with devious looks. We ran up to sit at the table and pounded our fists on it.

"Din-ner-time! Din-ner-time! Din-ner-time! Din-ner-time! Give us food! Give us food! Food! Food!"

"AUGH! STOP IT!"

"Food! Food! Food!"

XxX

After that late dinner, all of us except Sanji (who had volunteered to take first watch with a scowl) felt tired and decided to go to bed. Nami and Vivi offered to set up a bed on the floor of their room for me, no matter how much I protested that I could sleep in the kitchen room.

Nami's counter argument was that Luffy stole food at night, and unless I wanted to be nearly eaten too, I should stay out of there at night. After that, I gave up on arguing.

As I lay down on my makeshift bed, I wondered what we would see on Little Garden.

* * *

A/N:

Anni: So? I had a few random ideas, but I think they fit together pretty well. If you guys want anything specific to happen, don't hesitate to tell me. I'll include all the ideas that are... relevant to the story. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and the next one should be out in the next week.

See ya!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N

Anni: Sorry about the wait. I had some computer problems and I didn't start writing before today. Yeah...

Btw, the arcs won't follow the exact series of events, because of Anni's presence. But even if they don't happen in order, most events in the arcs will happen.

* * *

Anni's POV

I woke up to pounding on the ceiling. Rolling over, I got up and looked around. Nami and Vivi were nowhere to be seen, so I changed out of my pajamas and into an outfit that Nami had lent me. Actually, it was the only one that she had that I would willingly wear.

The outfit consisted of a a black miniskirt with mid-thigh length leggings under and a dark red tee-shirt shirt with the kanji for nakama on the front. I had black sneakers that Vivi had lent me, and my white socks from yesterday. My tastes in clothing were darker than most girls, mostly involving black and red, but I didn't care. It looked good on me, especially with my pale skin (that stayed the same colour even when I tried to get a tan) and mid-length blonde hair, giving me a slightly evil look.

I started up the the stairs to the trapdoor, when it burst open, revealing a stressed looking face. The face was connected to an arm that held a large hammer, probably the source of the pounding that woke me up.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Nami yelled at me. "We've been trying to wake you up for the last hour! I was about to came in there and hit _you_ with this! But," she looked behind her, "these idiots wouldn't let me do anything... potentially harmful to you."

I climbed up the rest of the stairs to see most of the crew packed into the small room. Nodding seriously, I said, "Yes, I completely agree. It would be a shame if I was critically injured or killed on my second day with the crew."

Sanji stepped forward. "Do you know what time it is?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

He whacked my head lightly. "It's lunchtime, idiot!"

Surprised, I raised one eyebrow. "So you guys are worried because I slept in?"

Nami hit me with the hammer in her hand. "No! Because we thought you were in a freaking coma!"

Luffy laughed. "And we didn't want you to miss lunch. Sanji's gonna make us each a bento!"

"Thank you! At least someone has a legitimate reason for waking me up!" I said.

A voice came from outside. I recognized it as Usopp's. "We've reached Little Garden!"

The crew members inside ran out to look at the island. I followed them, only pausing to feel the two huge lumps that were forming on the back of my head.

I ran to the front of the boat to get the best view, but that wasn't necessary to see the bright green jungle all around the boat. The island looked wild and ancient, like it was a snapshot of the world from thousands of years ago. In the distance, I could see a giant volcano and two huge white rock formations.

Zoro steered the boat into a little river where we stopped and hopped out.

Sanji turned to the rest of us and said, "We need to stock up on provisions, 'cuz we didn't get a lot at the last town."

I hadn't been there at the last town so I said, "What happened?"

He turned to me. "Well, before we got to your island, we went to a town filled with bounty hunters, and we couldn't get any food. Then, while we did get some good stuff at your island, we didn't get enough to last us for a long time."

Luffy muttered something about a restaurant, and was immediately shushed by the rest of us.

Suddenly, a giant bird lizard thing swooped down and tried to grab one of us. Nami and Usopp screamed, while the rest of us cringed at the sound. I leaped up and hit it, and it flew back up into the sky.

Luffy's eyes sparkled. "I'm gonna go and explore the jungle! Anyone wanna come? It's gonna be an adventure!"

Vivi smiled. "I'll go with you. If I just sit around here, I'll soon get bored."

Nami wilted like a flower in the middle of a desert. "Don't tell me that he's rubbing off on you. You'll die!"

From behind Vivi, a bird that I hadn't noticed before poked his head out. Vivi glanced from me to the bird, and said, "Oh, that's right. Anni, this is Carue. He was scared of you, so he didn't come out earlier." Looking back at Nami, she continued, "Carue will come with me."

The poor bird looked ready to faint

XxX

After a few preparations, Luffy, Vivi and Carue set off on their adventure. Back on the boat, Zoro jumped off onto the ground.

"I'm gonna take a walk."

Sanji ran up to the side of the boat.

"Hey, marimo. We're low on food, so bring something edible back."

"Yeah, ok." Zoro replied. Then, half turning, he said, "I'll hunt something bigger than you could manage, so sit tight until I get back."

Sanji looked ready to explode. "Alright then, if you're so confident, why don't we have a little contest?"

"Sounds good to me."

I could feel the tension in the air as they glared at each other.

I felt that I had to do something to ease the tension. "Oh, hey. Can I join too? If I sit around here I'm gonna get bored to death!"

They both shifted their glares to me and I flinched involuntarily.

_I'm glad they're my nakama, not my enemies._

I grinned. "Well, anyways, whoever brings back the most edible meat wins... hmm... do we have a good prize?"

Nami smirked at us. "How about... the losers have to do whatever the winner says for a day?"

"Hmm... kinda overused, but okay!"

"I agree."

"I'm looking forwards to your faces when you lose."

I leaped off the boat. "Bye Nami, Usopp. You guys can be the judges, 'kay?"

They both paled at the thought of the losers rage while the three of us ran off into the jungle, hoping to find something good.

XxX

"Okay, where are the big things?" I muttered to myself as I walked.

So far, I had seen a tiger, a big lizard, and a smallish elephant-like thing, but nothing huge enough to win.

A noise rang through the forest to my left. Spinning around, I saw a... dinosaur? It had dark yellow-green scales and a long neck, and looked kinda like brontosaurus but with a slightly shorter and thicker neck. It walked on all fours, but as soon as it saw me, it reared up and started charging towards me.

Yelling in surprise, I started running back the way I came, dodging the repeated head-butt attacks.

_Wait... which way did I come? It all looks the same! Then again, it's probably not good to lead this thing back to the boat. Squishing the judges won't let me win. Oh yeah, and I don't want Nami and Usopp to get hurt. That's important too._

I skidded to a stop and faced the dinosaur. The fight went like this:

Punch. Punch. Punch. Slice.

Anni: 1. Dino: 0.

I jumped up on top of a tree and saw something amazing. Two gigantic people were fighting above the treetops. One had a sword, and the other fought with an axe, but the strangest part was the fact that they were both laughing as they fought. I decided not to get in their way.

Jumping down from the tree, I picked up the dino by it's tail. Groaning under it's weight, I began the long trek back to the boat.

XxX

When I got back to the boat, Sanji and Zoro were both already there, fighting over whose catch was bigger. I saw that they had both caught dinosaurs of about the same size as mine.

Walking up to them, I called out, "Yo! Where are our judges?"

The two men turned to me with scowls on their faces.

"That's what we want to know!" They said in unison.

I thought for a moment. "Well, they've either gone out by themselves, gotten dragged into one of Luffy's adventures, or been kidnapped by one of those fighting giants."

"Fighting giants?" Zoro asked incredulously.

I nodded. "Yeah. I saw them from up in a tree. Did you notice all the shaking going on?"

Shaking his head, Sanji answered, "No, I was focused on beating you two."

Zoro looked thoughtful. "Oh, I thought that it was just more dinosaurs. Although, I already took down the biggest, so that was a bit confusing."

Before a fight could break out, I stepped between them and brought out the Clara Glare. They immediately looked at me and stopped fighting.

"Okay. Now since they wouldn't go out by themselves, and Luffy hasn't been back yet, we can conclude that they have been kidnapped by someone." I said seriously.

They nodded.

"So we must go look for Nami-swan!" Sanji said, running into the jungle by himself.

"Oi! Cook! Stop and let me tell you which way I think they went!" I yelled after him.

Zoro sighed. "Did you notice that he said, 'we'?"

I actually hadn't, but now that he pointed it out, it was really funny. Laughing, we started walking in the way that he ran.

XxX

Walking along in a prehistoric jungle semi alone isn't something that I would recommend to normal people. However, I didn't fall into the 'normal' category, so it was only slightly unsettling. Every once in a while, we would see another dino, or carnivorous lizard, or giant snake. They didn't pose much of a threat to us, because we could one shot most of them. We took turns dealing with attackers, I would destroy one, then Zoro would annihilate another, and then it would turn into a game of who could defeat prehistoric monsters faster.

The only problem we had was when I climbed a tree to see if I could see anything, and I looked at my feet, where a giant spider was chilling. I screamed loudly, and Zoro jumped up next to me, ready to kill something because of the unnatural noise I was making. He ended up missing the spider and cutting my knee instead (yeah, it was that big), but that was my fault because I moved to get away, startling the spider.

Jumping down from the tree, I stumbled and fell over. I dragged myself to a tree stump and pulled out my first aid kit. Grabbing a needle with my shaking hands, I tried to stitch up my cut, but before I could start, Zoro landed behind me and grabbed the needle.

I flinched at the sudden movement. "Hey! I need to close the cut before it gets infected."

He stared at me like I was crazy. "Yeah. That's what _I'm_ going to do. You'll only end up making it worse than it already is with your shaking hands."

He had a point. I might stab myself. Sighing in agreement, I handed him the first aid kit.

"Just don't stab me." I said, looking away.

I hated looking at wounds being closed unless I was fixing my own injuries, so I looked away for the entire process. My knee was going numb, but I could feel Zoro's warm hands on my knee and the occasional prick of the needle when it was farther away from the cut.

Finally, Zoro stood up and stretched. I tried to stand up too, but he pushed me back down onto the stump.

"What now?" I asked with some sarcasm.

Not answering, he took out a roll of bandages from the kit and started wrapping my knee up. He stood up again and rolled his eyes.

"Have you ever pulled a stitch?" he asked me.

I thought back. "No, I haven't. Why?"

He sighed. "Well, let me tell you. It really, really hurts."

"Ohh..."

Finally understanding, I stood up for the second time, this time successfully. However, after a few steps, a spike of pain shot up my leg and I nearly fell over, but Zoro caught me. I straightened quickly after that.

"I'm okay. I've had longer cuts." I said, slightly frustrated at myself.

Saying nothing, Zoro kept walking, but he was a little closer than before.

XxX

We didn't find Sanji. Instead, we found Nami and Usopp. They explained what had happened to them. They were brought to one of the huge rock formations by one of the fighting giants that I had seen earlier. They thought that the giant, who introduced himself as Brogy, had wanted to eat them, but he had clarified it, saying that he just wanted some company.

Brogy explained the reason behind his fight with the other giant. He was from an island called Elbaf, and when someone had an issue that could not be resolved, they would come to Little Garden and fight until the god Elbaf awarded one person the victory. However, they had been fighting for a hundred years every time the volcano rumbled with no winner, and they had forgotten their reason for fighting.

Personally, I thought that it was bullshit that they were fighting without a reason, but I wasn't about to say that out loud. After all, they had fought for a loooong time.

Suddenly, the biggest volcano rumbled.

Brogy stood up. "I have to go fight now. I'll see you humans later. Kaapapapapaa!"

I decided to follow him at a safe distance and watch the fight. As the second giant approached, I noticed something that I hadn't seen before. He was stumbling slightly, with a small smudge of blood on his chin. I didn't see him get injured in the previous fight, so what had gone wrong?

I decided to try and stop the fight that had been obviously sabotaged. As I ran through the trees, I saw the other giant trip and Brogy cut him down. I could tell that something was wrong with the two giants when Brogy fell down as well. I wasn't even halfway there, but I was running as fast as I could when I heard a scream that sounded suspiciously like Nami.

I couldn't turn around so I hoped that Zoro and Usopp could do enough to protect her and themselves.

XxX

When I got to the clearing I was met with a shocking sight. Nami, Vivi and Zoro were caught in a giant white cake-thing with a spinning top that was... snowing? The three of them, along with Brogy were slowly being covered with the snow. There was a man with a '3' hairdo laughing at them, and a small girl sitting on a blanket drinking tea.

The '3' haired man looked in my direction and I ducked behind a tree. My wounded leg hurt suddenly, and I stumbled out of my hiding spot. The man looked at something behind me and yelled, "Add her to the collection, Mr. Five!"

I spun around and was met with a huge explosion that knocked me unconscious.

* * *

A/N

Anni: I. Did. It. I wrote this whole chapter in one day! Sorry if it's a bit short. I had to look up the summary of the Little Garden arc again and I tried to fit most of the leading up events into one chapter. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, and the next chapter should be out within a week.

P.S. The spider might return. (^-^)

See ya!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N

Sorry! I've been caught up with English class sonnets (they will all burn) and French class family trees, and worst of all, science fair. I also had some inspiration blocks, so please forgive my late, late, late update...

Enjoy!

* * *

Anni's POV

When I finally came to, my feet were stuck in a waxy substance that felt like a giant candle, but stronger. Looking around, I saw that I was trapped in the same material that had imprisoned Nami, Vivi, and Zoro. All three of them were to my right, but I noticed that none of my nakama were moving, and they had all seemed whiter than normal.

"Hey! Can you guys hear me?" I shouted.

Nami responded stiffly, "Barely. We're being turned into wax statues as we speak. Luffy is trying to break the candle, but he's only making it worse."

I nodded, feeling stiffer than usual. "So we're all dead."

Zoro turned his head a fraction of the way towards us. "Oi. You'd better strike a pose while you can. If you don't, you'll regret it later."

Stumbling over her words, Vivi stammered, "W-we have to believe in Luffy-san. We will not die here! I must stop the rebellion!"

Feeling slightly encouraged, I turned my attention to the fight going on in front of the candle. Luffy had splatters of paint all over him, and he looked out of breath as he faced the little girl I saw earlier. She painted a symbol in the air and it flew towards Luffy, only inches away from hitting him.

I assumed that the paint was the girl's weapon. My guess was proven right as she explained her ability. The paint controlled the emotions of the person that it touched, and their actions would be controlled by the emotion that they were feeling.

As she talked about emotions, I suddenly got a completely unrelated and wonderful idea. If this was candle wax, then shouldn't fire melt it? As Luffy continued to fight, I decided to try it.

Closing my eyes, I willed my powers to light me on fire. As the flames licked up my body, I focused on increasing the heat to melt the wax surrounding the four of us.

Slitting my eyes open, I saw Luffy still under the effects of the paint as he sat on a blanket drinking tea. Suddenly, Usopp burst through the bushes riding on a panicked looking Carue.

"Luffy?! What the hell do you think you're doing?" He yelled incredulously.

Luffy struggled to stand up. "I want to help... but I can't because of this shitty ability she has." He muttered in a strained voice.

Stepping out of the bushes was a man that I recognized as the one who had captured me. He was aiming a gun at Usopp, and the latter hadn't seemed to have noticed.

Shooting a stream of fire at the guy, I pushed him back into the woods. Turning around as best I could I yelled, "Oi! Watch out for crazy exploding people! I'm concentrating on getting the four of us out of here!"

Usopp nodded, turning to fire a flame shot at Luffy. I was about to yell, when I realized that he was burning Luffy's shirt, and the paint along with it.

Refocusing, I increased the heat of my own fire. My nakama that were stuck in the candle were hardening at a rapid pace. I willed the destructive power of the fire to be aimed at the wax, while the life-giving aspect would protect the people inside.

The candle around my feet was beginning to soften, and I yanked one of my feet out. Now I could fully turn towards my statue comrades. Raising both hands, I directed my flames towards the three of them. As the fire raged around them, they twisted and shook off the wax like it was flour.

Zoro, Nami, and Vivi all jumped to the ground as a huge white robot stomped out of the forest. The robot took one look at the giant candle and the lone figure still remaining there, while the others stood on the ground, and screamed.

"Noo! Why? How? It's not possible for anyone to break my Doru-Doru wax!"

_Doru-Doru... Another Devil's Fruit? How many are there?_

I smirked. "If it's anything like normal candles, the wax should melt. I have fire-style powers, so your wax is practically useless."

Gasping like it was a life-changing revelation, he looked around and yelled, "That's impossible! My wax is as hard as steel!"

Turning to the small girl, he instructed, "Miss Goldenweek! Paint my robot with your most powerful colours! Artistically." he added as an afterthought.

The little girl's paintbrush blurred through the air, sending paint flying towards the robot. The now colourful robot lunged at Luffy, who had sparkles in his eyes at the sight of the robot.

Deciding to tune out the battle, I turned my attention towards Brogy, who was still encased in wax. I forced my remaining energy to fuel the fire and aim it in the direction of the giant. Shooting a blast of fire, I hoped it would be enough to free him before I ran out of energy.

There was no way that this technique could kill me, but it could drain all of my energy and, as a result, I could black out. That was a definite disadvantage in a fight, so that's why I didn't use the technique often. Only for dire circumstances or when there was someone to back me up. Now, there was both, so I was safe for now.

The shell encasing his arm broke as he stretched and roared to the sky. Grinning at me, he stomped over to the robot and picked it up, squeezing it until it cracked. Unfortunately, one of the spikes on the robot pierced his finger, and Brogy dropped him, yelling in pain.

Meanwhile, I had run out of energy, and slumped to the ground. Then, I realized that I wasn't on the ground. I was still stuck on the candle, with one foot still stuck in the wax!

"Oi! Guys! I can't get myself out! If you have the time before kicking their asses, get me out of here!"

Jumping up to me, Zoro took in my predicament.

"I could cut off your leg. That would work." He stated bluntly.

I raised one hand to cover my foot, although I knew it would do no good if he decided to go through with his 'plan'.

"No. You've done enough to me today." I replied.

Glancing around to make sure no one was listening, he muttered, "I would appreciate it if you didn't mention that around the others. It's embarrassing."

I grinned, now equipped with blackmail ammo. "Heh. So if you don't want me to tell them, maybe you could figure out a different plan..."

I trailed off, looking at Usopp, who had given Carue a rope, but was now being sat on by a lady with a lemon dress and umbrella. The strange thing was, from Usopp's reaction, she weighed a lot. More than a normal human being would, for sure.

He glanced up at me and yelled, "Light Carue's rope! It's soaked in oil and will melt the wax!"

I had to admit, it was a good plan. The only problem was, we had no fire, and I would practically die if I used the same technique that soon after the last time.

Luffy's head snapped around at Usopp's yell. Turning back to the wax monster robot he was currently fighting, his eyes widened with an idea. Grabbing the man's hair, which had lit on fire like a candle, he started dragging it towards the rope, bringing the man along too.

"Noo! What are you doing to me? This is unfair! How can you even-"

He broke off as the flame touched the rope, and it sprang to life with flames roaring around the giant sculpture. Glancing down I noticed that Nami and Vivi were caught it the fire too.

Because the two girls below and Zoro weren't fire proof like me, and I was still stuck, I directed them to get out of the fire as fast as they could. Then, wrenching my ankle out of the softening wax, I followed them, jumping down from the candle that had imprisoned me.

As I got past the flames, I could see that Luffy, Carue, the candle man, and the little girl were gone. I suspected that Luffy and Carue had run into the forest and were gonna beat the other ones up.

Turning my attention back to our fight in the clearing, I saw that Nami and Vivi had taken down the lemon umbrella lady with a staff and spinney peacock pinky thingies respectively. To the other side, The explosions guy was pointing a gun at the three of them.

"Oi, guys! Look out for the gun!" Was all I could manage before subsiding into a fit of coughing.

Usopp turned and shot something into the man's mouth, making his face start to turn red.

"Ha! It was a tabasco star! You shouldn't expect anything less from the great Usopp-sama!" he yelled triumphantly, waving his catapult like a flag.

The man fell to the ground, panting. Then, looking up, he started to run forwards, yelling, "I'm going to kill you all with my full-body explosion!"

Just when he was about to explode, a flash shot by him, slicing him in half with flaming katana. Landing, Zoro sheathed his katana and said, "I could get used to using katana on fire. They're not half bad."

"Zoro!" The two girls and Usopp said with obvious relief.

Suddenly, the ground shook wildly. Spinning around in panic, I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw Brogy towering over us, yet still sitting. He glanced towards his fallen companion, then, with a look of determination, said, "We still need to get the other two. Let's go!"

Then, without any warning, he looked over at the other giant again and started to bawl. There were tears falling everywhere. Cringing against the downpour, I limped over to the other four, who were also bracing themselves in case a big one hit them and knocked them out.

Wincing, Zoro muttered, "It's like a waterfall."

"I've never seen someone cry this much." Nami said in awe.

Vivi simply stared at the gigantic tears falling from the sky while Usopp sniffled in pity.

Then, from the forest we heard a rustle and a shout of, "Look! A rainbow! Cool!"

None of us needed to turn to know that it was Luffy and Carue, returning from their 'beat up the bad guys' adventure. As they stepped into the clearing, I glanced at the fallen giant, then did a double-take. He was supporting himself on his sword and kneeling, but most shocking, he _wasn't dead_!

"Dorry!" Brogy shouted in surprise. "What? How..."

Dorry grumbled, "I guess that I was unconscious this whole time."

He paused, thinking, then continued, "I'm sure it was your weapon. Fighting for all these years must have dulled the blade."

Brogy laughed, still crying. "I'm so happy you are alive! Kaapapapapaa!"

Suddenly, I remembered that we hadn't seen Sanji in a while.

"Hey... has anyone seen Sanji? He left to look for Nami, but he isn't here."

Silence.

"Oh yeah. Where _is_ Sanji?" Luffy asked.

Zoro sighed. "Man. I bet he went and got himself lost in this damn jungle."

I sat down on the grass, suddenly feeling the fatigue that I had been pushing away throughout the fight.

"Ghaa... He'll be alright." I groaned. "If anyone wants to look for him, you should do it now. If not, let's party!"

"Yeah!" They all shouted.

Nami looked up at the giants. "By the way, how long does it take for the Log to set?"

I turned my head in her direction. "What's a Log?" I asked.

"Oh, that's right. I keep forgetting that you haven't been here for the past adventures. The Log Pose is this." she held out her wrist, where there was a hollow glass ball, with a compass needle inside. "It adapts to each islands magnetic field, pointing us in the direction of the next island."

"Oh, okay." I said, suddenly wondering why I didn't ask about the directions sooner.

Brogy leaned over us. "It takes a year for the Log to adapt here on Little Garden."

"So, is that normal?" I asked, feeling that it was a long time to wait.

By the look on Nami's face, it was not a normal wait time. "Whaaat?" she screamed. "A year?"

The rest of the crew sighed at the news.

Luffy, getting over it first, brought out a package of senbei and yelled, "Anyways, lets have a senbei party!"

Usopp sighed. "It won't be a party if we only have senbei."

"What? We can kanpai with them, right? So it's fine."

As they continued with whatever they were doing, Nami slapped her hip. "Ow!"

"What's wrong?" Vivi asked.

"Nothing, just a bug bite." Nami replied.

Suddenly, a black blur nearly trampled me on it's way over to Nami.

"Nami-swan! Vivi-chwan! Look! I have an Eternal Pose to Arabasta!"

More silence.

I glared at him from the ground.

"Three questions. One, where the hell did you go? Two, what the hell did you do? Three, why the hell did you nearly run me over?"

Suddenly looking suspiciously serious, he picked me up from the grass.

"Ah. I did not mean to hurt such a beautiful lady like you. Let me make it up to you somehow..." He said, leaning close to me.

I ducked away from him. "No. Just no."

Nami punched the back of his head. "Oi, baka. Do you mind telling us how you got an Eternal Pose to Arabasta?"

Sanji launched into a detailed explanation of his adventure. He had gotten distracted by a small hut with tea, that he later found out was Mr. 3's (the name of the candle guy). He had picked up a Den Den Mushi call from Mr. 0 (the head of an organization trying to take over Arabasta) and had pretended to be Mr. 3, saying that he had completed the mission. Then, a vulture and a chipmunk/beaver thing had tried to kill him, and after he had defeated them they dropped the Eternal Pose meant for Mr. 3.

Luffy's fist shot up in the air. "Yosh! So is there anything else we need to do here? 'Cuz now we can go to Arabasta and stop the rebellion!"

Everyone cheered and Vivi ran over to hug Sanji. "Thank you Sanji! Now we can set sail and save my kingdom!"

"Oh, it wasn't anything really..." Sanji replied with a perverted grin on his face.

"SENBEI PARTY!" Luffy yelled enthusiastically.

As I walked past Sanji and Zoro, Zoro said, "Hey, you guys didn't forget about our hunting contest, did you?"

I smirked. "No. How could I forget about my prize?"

"Hey! I won!"

"No, we haven't judged them yet!"

A thought suddenly struck me. "Yeah, isn't that why we came all this way? To get the judges?"

The three of us turned to Nami and Usopp with fake grins. They flinched and said together, "L-let's wait until we get back and can see them for ourselves..."

The giants spoke up. "A hunting contest?"

Brogy turned to Dorry. "Is that what it was?"

"I think I remember now. That was it." Dorry replied.

"What was what?" I interrupted.

The two giants grinned. "Our fight." They said.

"We were leaders each of our own tribe. We were hunting and we both brought back giant monsters, but then a little girl asked which one was bigger. We couldn't agree on the winner, so we came here to decide the winner."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Absolutely incredible. All this over a hunting contest"

XxX

"No, mine's bigger!"

"Yeah, well mine's fatter!"

"You're both idiots! Mine is the biggest!"

Nami looked down from the side of the Going Merry.

"Anni, weren't you the one who said that getting mad over a contest is not worth it?"

"SHUT UP! I didn't understand how smart those giants were until this happened! You just don't understand it yet." I yelled back.

Luffy hung over the railing. "I'm hungry... Can't you guys just load up all the meat and be done with it?"

Usopp and Vivi nodded in agreement.

"But then what are we supposed to do about the prize?" We said together.

"IGNORE IT! We're just gonna set sail to Arabasta!" Nami shouted, fed up with our antics.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, fine."

Lifting the meat onto the ship was a tedious process because Luffy kept wanting us to store more of it so that he could eat it. Finally the ship was full, and we set off to the moaning of 'can't we have more meat?' from Luffy.

XxX

Reaching the end of the river, the two giants were standing on either side of it, waiting for us to pass through.

"You guarded our honor with your lives. We shall do the same to you." boomed Dorry.

"Believe in us and continue straight ahead, no matter what should appear." continued Brogy.

"Alright!" Luffy said, with a determined look. "We go straight ahead, no matter what!"

As the ship exited the river, the sea started to swell in front of us. Then, from the waves, an enormous red goldfish burst out of the sea. Looking back, The weapons of the two giants started to glow, red for Brogy, and blue for Dorry.

Nami screamed, "Quick, turn the helm or we'll get eaten! Hurry!"

Usopp shook his head. "No, we're going on ahead, right Luffy?"

Luffy nodded in agreement. "Yeah. The giants told us to, so that's what we're going to do."

The fish opened its mouth, ready to swallow us. I gripped onto the railing, prepared to be eaten.

"Straight ahead! Straight ahead!" Luffy yelled.

Suddenly, a force blew clean through the fish, propelling the ship out and onto the open sea. Running to the back of the ship, I yelled to the giants, "Thanks!"

Laughing, we continued on our journey to Arabasta.

"Kaapapapapaa!"

"Gyaagyagyagyagyaa!"

"Kaapapapapaa!"

"Gyaagyagyagyagyaa!"

* * *

A/N

I'm so sorry for being late with the update. I'm kinda busy with school, but you guys are so amazing that I had to upload this chapter at the expense of my homework. I'm probably not gonna update for a week or so, just until I get my science fair project over with. To all of you with the same problem, good luck.

If you guys wouldn't mind leaving even a small review on where I should go with this story, please do. I'd love to know what you think of the story so far, and have your ideas of what to do next. This is so that I can plan out something while I'm doing homework, and you guys will keep enjoying the story.

See ya!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N

So yeah. Science fair + poetry finals = Stress. I'm sorry for not writing this sooner though. Two weeks! I feel so bad for abandoning you... I'm a terrible person... But anyways! At least I'm uploading this now! I will now stop boring you with my apologies and get to the story!

Enjoy!

* * *

Anni's POV

We had been sailing for quite a few days now. Surprising, considering how little happened on the boat. I had been observing everyone's habits and obsessions, which was actually a great way to pass the time when there weren't fights going on over food, sake, or completely irrelevant things. I learned a lot about everyone's personalities and ways to bug them.

Sanji obsessed over Nami and Vivi (and sometimes me) which was really exasperating for all of us (but it was a good thing when I wanted special food). Luffy couldn't stay full for more than five minutes, so he was constantly begging Sanji for food. When he wasn't, he was sitting on the goat head on the front of the ship. Usopp was always building something or repairing the ship, which actually had many more 'injuries' than I would expect for a ship. Nami and Vivi were mostly talking about navigation and ruling a country, but sometimes Vivi would stop talking and stare off at the horizon, like she expected her country to come flying to the ship. Zoro constantly slept on the deck, but when he wasn't, he usually had some kind of bottle in his hand.

I heard mostly everyone's stories, but neither Zoro nor Luffy told me about their past. I heard vague things, like that Luffy got his hat from his role model and father figure, Shanks, and that Zoro wanted to become the best swordsman in the world, but there was still someone that he needed to beat. Personally, I understood their want to not share. I didn't want to either but I promised my nakama that I would tell them the full story sometime.

The weather was beautiful and unchanging. It was so different from where I used to live, so I spent most of my free time on the front deck on a chair, desperately trying to make my skin even slightly darker. Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about getting burned thanks to my fire-style powers, so I usually fell asleep listening to the surprisingly relaxing arguments, yelling, and snoring.

I was sleeping peacefully when a sudden weight slammed into my stomach. Grunting in pain and annoyance, I slowly opened my eyes to see a grinning Luffy tumble off of me.

"Luffy... what are you doing?" I groaned tiredly, looking at my idiot captain.

He sat up grinning like nothing had happened. "Shishishi. You're funny. If you were Zoro or Nami, you would have bitten off my head!" He looked past me to the top of the mast. "Sanji kicked me off the mast because I wasn't paying attention on watch, but really, I'm the captain so he shouldn't have put me on watch in the first place! Right?"

I rolled over in my chair, muttering, "Tell Sanji that he's an idiot. Actually, you're an idiot too, so I guess it doesn't matter."

Luffy walked around me to face me and sat down, crossing his legs. "You haven't told us much about you yet. Do you have a dream, or a goal that you want to accomplish?"

I closed my eyes and thought about it. "No, not really. I guess I haven't thought about it much."

Luffy turned to me with a serious look, unusual for the hyperactive captain. "You should. The people on this ship, they're here because they have dreams worthy of achieving, and the spirits to match."

I felt slightly unwanted. "So, what? Are you gonna kick me off because I don't have a dream?"

Luffy smiled widely. "No, silly. I'm saying that I know you have the spirit to achieve a dream, but you're just not sure yet. If you talk to the rest of the crew about their dreams, I'm sure you'll find something that resonates with you."

Sitting up, I reached out and stretched my arm around Luffy in a kind of half hug. "You're like one of my childhood friends, he was always talking about dreams. Wonder where he is now?"

Luffy grinned. "Shishishi. If your friend has a dream, then I'm sure he's fine, whatever it is."

His stomach growled and I brought my arm back.

"Argh! I didn't eat enough at breakfast, and at my snack, and my second snack, and-"

I cut him off. "Geez, just go eat already! I'm sure that Sanji'll make you something if you say that I sent you."

He stood up, chuckling. "Yeah. Sanji'll make any kind of food for you."

He started down the stairs, and then a thought struck me.

"Wait, Luffy... what's your dream?" I said curiously.

He turned around and faced me with a determined grin.

"I'm gonna become the Pirate King by sailing around the Grand Line and claiming One Piece!"

Lying back on my chair, I smiled. I was gonna have to think about this.

_What do I really want to do?_

XxX

I was proud to say that I was getting used to meals with my nakama. I had developed a technique to get as much of any food that I wanted. The trick was to wait until Luffy stretched to grab something off of Sanji, Nami, or Vivi's plate. When this happened, Sanji would grab Luffy's hand and lecture him about stealing food from other people. (How dare you steal food from a beautiful and slightly helpless lady like Nami-swan or Vivi-chwan!) Then, when Luffy couldn't move his arm, I took as much as I could off of the plates in the middle and ate as fast as I could. On the occasions that I didn't finish my food fast enough, I would 'casually' raise my fork and keep it over my plate, ready to stab anything that tried to take my food.

Sanji had called us for lunch right after Luffy had gone to ask for food. The blond cook had made a delicious looking buffet, with pitas and every filling you could imagine. The table was covered with plates and piled high with meats, vegetables, and cheeses.

I joined Luffy and Usopp at the door, our jaws dropping at the sheer amount of food that Sanji had cooked for the crew. The cook in question spun towards us, bypassing the two guys and dropping to one knee in front of me.

"I apologize profusely for my actions earlier. I made this lunch for you, and I hope that you can forgive me."

Confused, I pulled on Sanji's shoulder until he stood up. "What did you do? I don't remember you doing anything wrong."

He covered his visible eye with his hand, appearing dispirited. "A true man must own up for his mistakes. I kicked the lazy captain off of the mast because he was abandoning the job that Nami-san set him, but I didn't know that you were relaxing comfortably and elegantly on the deck where he landed. Regrettably, I could not come and apologize at that moment, because I had to take over his job."

I remembered that Luffy had said something about that. "Oh, yeah. Don't worry about it. We ended up having a nice conversation, so you don't need to feel sorry about anything."

He sighed gratefully, placing an arm around my shoulders to lead me to the table. Squirming out of his too-close embrace, I darted to the table, sitting in a free spot between Nami and Vivi.

I looked back at Sanji, to kind of apologize, but he had seated himself beside Nami and had struck up a conversation about the plans for the next island. As I ate, I heard snippets of their conversation. Apparently, the next island we were going to was a winter island, and it was rumored to have great doctors.

I heard a slight sigh from my other side, and I turned to see Vivi looking dejectedly at her food as she picked at it, not eating.

Wondering what could have put her in this mood, I said, "Hey, Vivi, what's wrong? I noticed that you've been kinda down lately. Are you worried about Arabasta?"

She flinched, startled by my question. "Yeah, I am. I'm worried about my father, and the people, and the war that is about to break out. I can't stand being away and I want... I really want to go home." She sniffled.

I put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I can't say that I know how you feel, or that everything is gonna be alright, but I can try to help you kick the guy's ass. What was his name again?"

She smiled through her sadness. "The bastard taking over my country is Crocodile."

I grinned despite myself because I had never heard Vivi swear before now.

"Alright. I promise, I'll do my best to get your country back. I won't stop until he's lying dead at my feet. Sound good?"

Tears sparkled in her eyes. Another hand put itself over mine and we looked back to see Sanji standing with a determined look in his eye, and Nami with her hand on Vivi's other shoulder.

Vivi was struggling to not let tears fall, but despite her efforts, they slid down her face, dripping onto the table.

"Th-Th-Thank you guys so much! You have no idea how much this means to me..." She said, covering her mouth with her hand.

The rest of the crew stood up and walked over to us, offering comforting words. Luffy sat down beside me and softly whispered, "Have you thought of anything yet?"

I turned my head slightly, smiling. "Nah, I'll wait until everyone's dreams are accomplished. Then I'll think about something for myself."

The usually hyper captain looked slightly surprised, but quickly recovered. "With that attitude, I'm sure you won't be waiting long."

The moment seemed sad, happy, calm, and perfect all at the same time. That is, until Nami tumbled to the floor, her face flushed and sweaty.

"Nami!"

"Nami-swan!"

"What's wrong?"

"What the hell just happened to her?"

Nami, seemingly unable to hear us, simply lay there, occasionally groaning.

Vivi, quickly taking charge, ordered us to back away from our collapsed nakama. Turning to me she ordered, "I think she's sick. Anni and Zoro, take her to our room and put her on the bed. I'll get medicine, so just stay with her and if she wakes up, get her whatever she wants."

The swordsman and I rushed to pick her up, slinging one arm around each of our shoulders. Stumbling a little, we carried her to the girls room, laying her across her bed. I grabbed the blankets from mine and Vivi's mattress beds and draped them over Nami, while Zoro went and got a glass of water to set on the side table. Nami stirred once, slightly, but other than that, she stayed still the whole time.

Vivi came with pain-killers, the only medicine we had on the ship. She ordered me to get a cloth to lay on Nami's forehead, and Zoro to get any other spare blankets on the ship. Eventually, the entire crew had gathered in our room, either sitting on the mattresses, or running around to get stuff for Nami. It became abundantly clear that none of us had any medical experience, aside from injury fixing and light colds. Vivi had picked up the most medical stuff, so we relied on her until we were all worn out and tired.

When there was nothing anyone else could do, we eventually all lay down in some part of the small room, and fell asleep.

XxX

In the middle of the night, I woke up. Slowly. I hadn't had a bout of insomnia for a few years, so I had thought that I was over it. Deciding to make the best of it, I opened my eyes and immediately smiled at the sight before me. The entire crew was sprawled over one another, save for Nami who was still motionless, but I thought that I could see the ghost of a contented look on her face.

Vivi was slumped against the bed, but she was the only one not covered in other people. I was lying on Zoro's arm, while my knees acted as a pillow for Luffy's head. Sanji was lying on his stomach with his feet on Usopp's legs, while Usopp was slouched against the wall. Various arms were everywhere, we all had at least one that didn't belong to us.

Suddenly, I felt a wave of belonging. I had found friends and a family in this crew full of dreams. All I really wanted was to stay with them, and I wouldn't let a single one of them die on this journey. I would make sure that they all achieved their dreams, even if I had to stare Death in the face and ring his doorbell. I would do it for my nakama.

Suddenly, I yawned and felt my eyelids droop. I slid back into a deep sleep, but just before my eyes closed, I thought I saw Nami stir.

XxX

In the morning, Nami was worse. Vivi had woken up early to check on her, but her temperature had risen to an alarming number. In a panic, she had stumbled around, waking everyone up. After we had all gotten untangled from the arms and legs that were covering the room and stuck under other people, we rushed around getting anything that was remotely helpful.

Sanji cooked a beautiful meal for Nami, saying that it was the most nutritional thing she would ever eat, and that it would make her better immediately. Usopp and Luffy set up a fan in her room to keep her cool, and Zoro and I stayed as Vivi's errand people for all of her ideas that would surely make her better. I could see the leader in her, the leader that was concerned about her friends. It was almost like looking at Luffy when he was determined.

The real surprise came when I was on watch duty. I was looking through my improved spyglass when I caught a glimpse of a... person?

Looking over the edge, I called out to the crew.

"Oi! There's a... person there! Out standing on the water!"

Zoro, who was sleeping on the deck, opened one eye and said, "Nope. You're crazy. People can't stand on water."

Frustrated, I dropped the spyglass on his head. I was content with the cracking sound and the yell of pain that followed.

"What the hell did you do that for, flame-brain?"

Leaning over, I smiled sarcastically. "Look for yourself. There's a person on the water."

Rolling his eyes, he lifted the spyglass to his eye, looking out at the sea.

"W-Wha..." The spyglass clattered to the ground as Zoro stared at the person who was standing on the waves.

I smirked. "_Now_ tell me that people don't stand on water."

He looked up at me. "They don't. This is just weird."

I removed a shoe and dropped it on his head.

"Ow! Stop!"

I dropped my other shoe.

"Seriously, flame-brain! That's annoying!"

"Fine. I'm out of shoes, anyways," I huffed.

Luffy and Usopp walked out of the kitchen.

"What's going on, guys? Did you see something?" Usopp asked as Luffy picked at his ear with his pinky.

Zoro threw the spyglass to the long-nosed man without saying anything. Usopp had barely caught it when Luffy snatched it out of his hands, pointing it towards the front of the boat where the mysterious man stood. He had the same reaction as Zoro, dropping the spyglass and stuttering.

Suddenly, as the ship drew closer to the man, the waves under his feet parted to show a submarine rising from the sea.

I jumped down to the deck, but nearly fell over as Zoro nudged me.

"See, I told you that people can't stand on the sea."

I scowled, punching him.

"Admit it. You thought that he was standing on the water too."

Turning my attention back to the submarine, I saw that there were three people standing on the top, including the one that I had seen standing on the water who I could see was an archer or joker. There was a short man, who had a gray jaw and a seriously grumpy look to him, the archer/joker person, and a third man who looked like a red haired knight.

"Ooooiiii!"

I spun around, but Vivi was already chastising Luffy for not checking to see if they were enemies or not.

"Have you seen an island around here?" The short man yelled across the water.

I yelled back, "No! That's where we're going, so go find it yourself!"

The man seemed to compress himself, then jumped onto the boat and-

-ate it?

He had literally taken a bite out of the deck. His jaw had expanded to an inhuman shape and bitten the deck, ripping off a chunk of the side. I stared in absolute horror, but Usopp had the most extreme reaction, his scream reaching an octave that I had never heard a human reach.

The man spat out the chunk of deck.

"Blegh. How dare you treat the great Wapol-sama like that?"

Luffy glared at him. "How dare we...? You. Just. Ate. Our. Ship. I'm gonna kick your ass to the moon!"

Stretching his arms back, he snapped them forwards into the short man, propelling him into the distance and sending him into the water. The submarine quickly sped after him as our ship went in the opposite direction, disappearing into the distance.

A stunned silence followed, broken only by Usopp's indignant squeaks regarding the state of the ship. We all returned to our jobs that had been interrupted.

XxX

"Hey, marimo. Guess what."

"You see another floating person."

Clunk.

"Ow! Guess not. What?"

"We finally reached the island."

* * *

A/N

So I had a little trouble remembering how the arc went, but it's okay. Did'ja like the heartwarming scenes with Nami, Vivi, and Luffy? Luffy is one of my favorite characters to write and I love his laugh. Anyways! **IMPORTANT QUESTION!** Do you want me to put up a Valentines Day chapter for a few days? If you do, or if you feel that it would be strange, put a review with even just a 'yes' or 'no'. If a bunch of you say yes, I'll whip up something and post it for about a week.

I hope you enjoyed!

See ya!


	7. Chapter 7: Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day

A/N

It's my first holiday chapter! Yay! So just to make sure, this chapter doesn't really have anything to do with any plot, mine or One Piece's. Think of it as the equivalent of the Luffy Oyabin episodes, but some things will carry over.

Btw, I haven't put a disclaimer in a few chapters, so: I do not own One Piece or its characters. (Anni is my OC though). Also, I don't own the songs that are sung in this chapter.

Enjoy!

* * *

Anni's POV

I woke up to the sounds of a fight as usual. Stumbling out of bed, I decided to not bother with getting dressed, so I stumbled up the stairs to kitchen in my pyjamas. Blinking sleepily, I was met with a sight that made me think that I was going colourblind. The entire kitchen was covered in pink and red streamers, there was a pink tablecloth, the cutlery was sparkling with red glitter and there were balloons hanging from every place imaginable.

Suddenly, breaking me out of my thoughts, a sword flew across the room and embedded itself in the wall next to my head. I blinked and turned to see Sanji trying to pull a streamer necklace covered in hearts over Zoro's head.

"Gahh! You shitty pervert cook! I already told you that I won't wear this... this thing!" Zoro yelled furiously.

"Well if you won't participate, then just stand in the corner and be a decoration!" Sanji replied, still trying to yank the streamer over his head.

I blinked again, still half asleep.

"Um, Sanji? Why are you trying to make Zoro into a pink decoration?" I mumbled, not completely comprehending the situation.

Both men turned to face me, looks of embarrassment and panic on their faces.

Sanji rushed towards me, ushering me out the door. As I turned, I realized that the other men were outside the door, groaning about food. I glanced back, and Zoro had mysteriously disappeared from the kitchen, no doubt to escape the cook.

As the door closed behind us, Sanji turned to me.

"Do you know what day it is today?"

I had never been good at keeping track of dates.

"Nope. No idea!" I answered.

Sanji spun around me, before resting both hands on my shoulders.

"Ah, how could a beautiful lady like you not know about today? I was sure-"

Nami and Vivi bounced up behind me, yelling in unison, "It's Valentine's Day today!"

Nami stepped between me and Sanji, who ducked back into the kitchen. "And you know what's even better? We've docked at an island that has a huge party this time of year!"

Vivi chimed in, "And they have the most beautiful firework show! I went there once with my father and it was absolutely unforgettable!

Luffy looked interested. "Do you think they have good food? 'Cuz Sanji won't let us into the kitchen, and I'm sooo hungry..."

At this, the kitchen door flew open and Sanji bowed to the three of us girls.

"Lovely ladies, will you come in and eat the breakfast that I have prepared for you?" He said, straightening up and holding the door for us.

Luffy bounded into the kitchen, but Sanji's foot slammed into his face, knocking him outside.

"Your food will be later. You can eat when Nami-swan, Vivi-chwan, and Anni-chwan are done."

I ran into the kitchen and loaded a plate with bacon, eggs, and everything else I could see. The food was strangely tinted pink and red, but other than that, it was delicious. After we were done eating, the door nearly broke as the other guys rushed in to eat.

When we got out of the room, Nami and Vivi dragged me to our room to pick out a 'cute outfit that will surely get you a date'. They chose a white blouse with a light pink cardigan, a darker pink miniskirt, silver flats and white thigh high socks. I didn't even want to look at the under garments they picked out.

I took one look at the clothes and turned my back to them.

"There is no way in hell that I will ever wear something as dumb as that."

Nami smirked, twirling the key to the trapdoor around her finger. "Well, I'm sure we can figure something out. After all, we feel that it's our personal mission to get you ready for Valentine's Day. So, with that in mind, you can leave the room when you put these on."

Vivi smiled, walking up the stairs. "Don't worry about it. Looking good is the first step to feeling good."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I shouted as the trapdoor clicked shut.

Ten minutes of sulking later, I put on the lacy pink outfit and stomped up the stairs to pound on the trapdoor.

"Oi, Nami! Let me out! I put on the stupid outfit."

It opened a crack, and I could see one of Nami's eyes make sure that I had put on everything they had told me to. She pushed it back to let me up, but I had already stomped out in a huff.

I sat down on a chair outside to try and forget about the stupid holiday. There were only twelve more hours until the firework show at ten o clock, so I would just have to turn invisible until then.

Unfortunately, Nami and Vivi seemed to have other ideas. They walked up to me and sat down on chairs on either side of me. Groaning, I rolled my eyes.

"What torture do you guys have planned for me now?"

Nami grinned like a cat cornering its prey.

"You, my friend, need a date."

"What? I don't need a date!" I sputtered.

Vivi grinned the same way that Nami did.

"Yes you do. It's Valentine's Day, and you can't go to the fireworks party with out a date!" she said enthusiastically.

I groaned in annoyance. "So, who are your dates?"

"Sanji." Nami answered.

I sighed. "I should have guessed that one. What about you, Vivi?"

"Usopp."

I choked. "What? Really? I thought he had a girlfriend from back where he lived before, right?"

Vivi smiled. "You're so silly. It's not serious, it's just for today. Plus, I have a very good friend back home too."

I stretched my arms over my head.

"So... you guys are gonna make me ask out either Luffy or Zoro, right?"

They nodded.

"Ugh... why me..."

I tilted my head back over the edge of the seat to see a yellow head and orange beak staring at me.

"Eh...? Carue?"

Carue squawked at me.

"Hey, Carue, do you wanna go on a date with me?" I asked, hoping that he counted.

Carue backed away, shaking his head and finally darting away into the mini tangerine grove.

Nami bonked me on the head. "People only, baka. Nice try."

So eventually, after much persuading, pushing, and threatening, Nami and Vivi got me to get up and choose one of my two options. Looking around, I spotted Luffy sitting on the side of the boat fishing (even though the boat was docked), and Zoro sleeping on the deck. I had never really asked someone out, so I decided to go with my instinct.

"Go on."

"Ask one of them."

I scowled, stomping over to the two men. I grabbed them both by the ears, and dragged them off the side of the boat into the town.

"C'mon guys. We're going on a date."

From behind me, I heard Nami and Vivi's shocked whispers.

"Both of them?"

"I guess she couldn't decide, huh."

"Do you think she's ever been on a date before?"

"Maybe... but probably not."

I twitched. "SHUT UP, YOU TWO!" I yelled.

Luffy and Zoro flinched, whispering, "We didn't do anything..."

XxX

Stopping in the center of the town, I dropped them.

"Just so you two know, Nami and Vivi told me to do this. Actually, it was more like they threatened..." I trailed off.

Luffy chuckled. "Well, now that we're here, we should get food! That place looks good!"

I looked in the direction he was pointing. It was a clean looking bar, with lots of people in it.

"Sure, sounds good to me."

I turned back to the two men, but they were already heading into the bar.

"Tch. Guess I'm gonna be paying." I muttered to myself as I followed them in.

The bar was nice and tidy, it reminded me of Clara. I followed my 'dates' (this was so weird) to a table next to a small stage. Luffy ordered a steak, Zoro ordered sake, and I ordered both.

Halfway through our meal, a spotlight went on at the stage. A lady came up to the mic and shouted, "It's here! What you've all been waiting for to entertain you until the fireworks! It's time for... karaoke, Valentine's Day edition!"

I rolled my eyes. "This is dumb. I mean, who would want to do that?"

Looking around my table, Luffy and Zoro had disappeared, and were on the stage singing along to the music, which happened to be a song I knew, Love Runs Out (by One Republic).

Luffy: _I'll be your light, your match, your burning sun,_

_I'll be the bright, in black, that's making you run,_

_And we'll feel alright, and we'll feel alright,_

_'Cause we'll work it out, yeah we'll work it out._

_I'll be doin' this, if you ever doubt,_

_'Til the love runs out, 'til the love runs out._

Zoro: _I'll be your ghost, your game, your stadium,_

_I'll be your fifty thousand clapping like one,_

_And I feel alright and I feel alright,_

_'Cause I worked it out, yeah I worked it out,_

_I'll be doin' this, if you ever doubt,_

_'Til the love runs out, 'til the love runs out._

Luffy/Zoro: _I got my mind made up, man, I can't let go._

_I'm killing every second 'til it saves my soul._

_(Ooh) I'll be running, (Ooh) I'll be running,_

_'Til the love runs out, 'til the love runs out._

_And we'll start a fire, and we'll shut it down,_

_'Til the love runs out, 'til the love runs out. _

I rolled my eyes as they continued singing, neither of them particularly good at it. When they sat back down, I stared at them, before saying, "I didn't think either of you could sing."

Luffy just laughed it off. "Yeah, we don't sing much on the Merry. We should. And then maybe we could eat meat while we sing. That would be fun!"

Zoro sighed at his idiotic captain before turning to me saying, "Can you sing better?"

I felt slightly insulted. Singing was one of my real talents, but I didn't do it much around other people.

"Yeah, you bet I can!"

Three people later, I found myself shoved onto the stage and the mic put into my hand. I barely had time to look at the title of the song before the music started. I sighed with relief when I recognized the song, Love Somebody (by Maroon 5).

I started singing along, not bothering to look at the lyrics.

_I know your insides are feeling so hollow, (ooh)_

_And it's a hard pill for you to swallow, (yeah)_

_But if I fall for you, I'll never recover,_

_If I fall for you, I'll never be the same._

As I finished the song, the crowd watching me cheered, urging me to sing another, and another, and another.

After four songs, I was starting to get thirsty, so I stepped off the stage and went back to my table, much to the crowds vocalized disapproval. When I sat down, Luffy and Zoro stared at me in disbelief.

"Y-You can sing really well! You should sing all the time!" Luffy stuttered, wide eyed.

Zoro coughed. "Yeah, you're not bad. Although, how did you know all the songs?"

I grinned. "Well, I didn't have many friends, and I don't really remember my family, so I sang a lot in my spare time. Actually, I sang and hummed so much that some of my teachers deducted marks for 'disturbing others'. Funny, huh?"

"So, do you have any other talents that we should know about, Anni?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah, like, can you sing and eat meat at the same time?" added Luffy unhelpfully.

"Umm... nope, not really. If I remember any others, I'll tell you guys." I answered.

"Oi! Anni, Luffy, Zoro! Come on! The party is about to start!" yelled Nami from the entrance.

We stood up, paid, and walked out, following Nami and a bunch of walking shopping bags that I assumed was a very pleased Sanji. We met up with Vivi and Usopp, who had gone to a restaurant for lunch, and walked to the dock, where a big party with lots of stalls was set up. The stalls ranged from food, to jewelry, to weapons, to small trinkets.

Luffy immediately ran off to one of the nice smelling meat stalls, then quickly disappeared from view. Nami and the shopping bags walked off to the jewelry shops, and Vivi and Usopp went to the weapons stalls, leaving me and Zoro standing by ourselves.

"So, we're supposed to be on a date, right? What do you want to do?" Zoro said awkwardly.

I responded just as awkwardly, "Umm... I dunno. What do you wanna do?"

He stood there for a second, before walking towards one of the weapons shops that specialized in swords.

"Let's go here. Maybe I can get you a sword." he said.

My eyes shone. "Really? You'll get me a sword?"

He turned to me, disbelief in his eyes. "No. I'll tell you which sword to get, but I won't buy it for you."

"Aww... Why?" I moaned.

"Because Nami won't give me any money, but she gives money to you." he replied.

"Ah."

We walked up to the stall, and I was overwhelmed by the different swords. By the look on his face, so was Zoro. He struck up a conversation with the shopkeeper, occasionally looking towards me, or pulling out one of his three katana to show the shopkeeper. I got bored pretty quickly admiring the swords, so I sat on one of the chairs and picked at my nails for twenty minutes or so.

Zoro eventually came over and pointed to a dagger on a shelf.

"You're not experienced for any of these swords (I scowled darkly), but if you want something to defend yourself with, I would recommend that dagger right there."

The shopkeeper handed it to me to examine. It had a silvery sheath, but when I pulled the blade out, it was a dark black shiny metal. Looking closer at it, I actually couldn't tell whether it was metal, or some kind of stone. The handle was a dark metal, and had white leather wrapped around for a grip. It was light and fast.

"It would be good for you because that metal has an amazingly high melting point, so you can light it on fire without the danger of it melting." Zoro pointed out.

I rested it on the counter and addressed the shopkeeper.

"So, how much is it?"

The shopkeeper answered, "This dagger? It's 500, 000 beli."

I gasped. "Woah... okay then."

I dug around in my bag, looking for my wallet. Just as I found it, the dagger was shoved into my hands and I was dragged away.

As I stumbled to close my bag, I looked up at Zoro.

"I thought you didn't have any money."

He looked away.

"I had more than I thought."

Smiling, I let him drag me to wherever he was going. Actually, where was he going? We had somehow ended up in the middle of a field, with the party nowhere in sight.

"Hey, did you get lost again?"

"No, I don't get lost. It's just that everything else moves when I'm not looking." He huffed.

I looked up at the sky, and it was surprisingly dark.

"Hey, I think it's almost time for the fireworks! We should go find the rest of the crew."

Zoro glanced around at the surrounding field.

"Yeah, but like I said, it moved. I don't know where it is anymore."

Huffing, I grabbed his hand and stomped off in the direction that we came. After a few minutes of walking (which was strange, considering the short time we took to get there), I caught a glimpse of the tents and stalls. I first spotted the giant shopping bags, then the other members of the crew.

Luffy saw us first, yelling, "Oi, Anni! Zoro! You guys were almost late for the fireworks!"

We ran up to them, and just as we got there, fireworks exploded around us, lighting up the docks and the water. Gasps echoed around us from every direction, eventually morphing into cheering and clapping. I looked at my nakama and was pleased to see everyone smiling and laughing. Sanji had even put down his shopping bags and was standing close to Nami, for once not being too overwhelming.

Zoro squeezed my hand, and I flinched. I had forgotten that I had grabbed his hand to drag him back. Sighing, I squeezed his hand back, leaning slightly against him until the fireworks ended.

XxX

Back on the Merry, I was lying on my mattress trying to get to sleep, when I heard a whisper.

"Hey Anni... did you enjoy your date?"

"Yeah, did you?"

"Shut up."

"You did, didn't you?"

"Shut up."

* * *

A/N

So this turned out a little fluffier than I intended. It's kinda cute though, right? I tried to keep Nami and Vivi in character while making them act really girly and obsessive about things like Valentine's Day. And come on, you know you've imagined some of the crew singing karaoke at some point. Also, I'm so sorry for abandoning Carue for the last few chapters. :( Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, and feel free to leave feedback.

See ya!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N

I'm glad to know that you guys enjoyed the Valentine's Day chapter! I saw a very good description of it, a romantic holiday without any romance (thank you pizzafan123). I've decided to not take down the holiday chapters, and just leave them there for later readers.

Ahh! I'm so excited! Chopper is finally entering the story soon! Chopper is so cute with his hat and his paws and his nose-chopsticks! Anyway. Fangirl moment over.

Enjoy!

* * *

Anni's POV

We approached the island slowly. It was a winter island with lots of snow and ice, and huge cylindrical mountains. The air temperature was dropping steadily, but I didn't feel it as much as the others because my fire-style powers kept me warm without thinking. The rest of the crew put on puffy jackets while I stayed in my t-shirt and shorts.

At one point, Vivi tried to get me to wrap up, saying, "You need to keep warm. You might get frostbite, or get sick. And heaven knows that we don't need two sick people on the ship."

I looked from the white jacket to my bare arms and replied, "Vivi, I promise I'll be fine. How am I gonna beat up Crocodile with a cold?"

Vivi smiled with a tinge of sadness. "Knowing you, you'd try to beat him up, cold or not."

"Tsk. Silly Vivi. Not 'try', I _would_." I corrected, then a thought struck me and I added, "Although, it would be harder to punch someone if I was blowing my nose every other second. Maybe I would kick him like Sanji does. That would be interesting."

"Still, at least please wear the jacket. You don't even have to do it up." She insisted, pushing the jacket into my hands.

Sighing, I wrapped it around my waist.

"There, is that good enough?"

Vivi smiled gratefully. "Thank you. If you get cold, then you can put it on." Her tone changed to a stern motherly tone. "And none of that 'I'm not cold, I don't need to put it on'."

"Yes, mother." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

Luffy's voice drifted down from the top of the mast.

"Oi! Guys! We're about to reach the island! First we'll find a doctor for Nami, then we'll stock up on provisions!"

Vivi rushed back to Nami to check on her, leaving me alone on the deck. I gazed up at the sky as white flakes of snow started drifting down from the clouds. Catching one in my palm, I watched as it melted almost instantly.

_I must be really bored if I'm watching snow melt._

Looking up at the island, I watched as the ship drew closer to the snow. We drifted into a river mouth and continued on. The ship was soon covered with snow and every once in a while, someone would come out to admire the sparkly white powder.

I turned from the front to look across the boat. As I did so, a mound of snow moved to the side in the shape of a person. I immediately knew it was Zoro, who had been snoring on the deck a few minutes ago. The snow had covered him, giving the appearance that it was eating him. Deciding to save him from the carnivorous snow, I dug around and found his arm. I pulled him out, but the swordsman was still asleep. I grinned, this was a great opportunity.

I piled up one of the drifts of snow and stuck Zoro's feet in it, then covered the rest of him in snow, giving him the look of a snowman. Bending one of his arms, I stuck one of his katana in his hand, his hand automatically wrapping around it. Running into the girl's room, I grabbed a piece of paper and a marker, scribbling something before dashing back out. I stuck the sign on Zoro's snow covered front, and stepped back to admire my work. It was perfect.

The door to the kitchen opened, and Sanji stepped out. He looked from me to the snow covered swordsman, the walked down the stairs to see my artwork from the front. When he read the sign, he stifled a laugh.

"Well, I'd say that it captures Zoro's personality very well." Sanji said, still trying not to laugh.

The sign read, _Gyaaah! I, the killer snowman Zoro, will destroy you all! Give me sake!_

Combined with his relaxed look and slight snoring, Zoro looked as far from a killer as possible, despite the fact that he was still holding one of his sheathed katana. Sanji snickered, still taking in the scene.

"Do you do this a lot? You don't seem like the kind of person to do this." Sanji said.

I was still admiring my work, but I replied, "Well, not a lot, but it's pretty funny when I get the opportunity. This right here is a work of art."

"It is. Hang on, I have an idea." Sanji agreed, before rushing back into the kitchen. He came out with a purple marker, and drew cat whiskers and a nose on Zoro's face, then added 'kitty' between the words 'snowman' and 'Zoro'. I nodded in approval.

I voice sounded from behind us.

"I hope you know that you two will be in big trouble when he wakes up."

I turned to see Vivi had come back out and was standing with a frown on her face and her arms crossed.

"Geez. Am I not allowed to have some fun? You're so mean." I puffed out my cheeks.

Luffy suddenly bounded out into the snow, nearly knocking Vivi over.

"Woah! You guys made a snowman that looks exactly like Zoro!" He said in admiration.

Sanji and I rolled our eyes.

"That's because the marimo was sleeping. Anni decided to do something funny and then I joined in." Sanji said, looking at the banks of the river that we were gently floating down.

"Hey..." he continued while Luffy poked at the Zoro-snowman, "Don't you think that it's a little weird that no one came to see us? I'm sure that this island is inhabited."

I glanced around. "Yeah, you're right. It doesn't seem like anyone's gonna welcome us onto the island or anything."

Suddenly without warning, a bunch of arrows whizzed past us and lodged themselves in the deck. Jumping back in surprise, I looked up to the ridge on the bank where there were dozens of people dressed warmly aiming crossbows at us.

"Well then..." I started, trailing off when the largest man shifted his aim to me.

"Don't speak! Tell your captain to turn around and sail to the next island."

"Well how am I s'posed to do that if I can't speak?" I grumbled, heading inside to get Luffy, who had wandered back inside to eat.

Opening the door, I yelled, "Oi! Luffy! Get your ass out here! Some giant bears want to talk to you!"

He looked up with an interested expression.

"Oh? Giant bears? And they can talk?"

"No, but you can't deny the resemblance." I smirked, looking back at the twitching man.

Another arrow flew through the air and grazed my shoulder, not deep enough to scar, but enough to sting.

I threw my hands in the air in annoyance. "Sheesh! The world hates me..." I muttered, walking back down onto the deck.

"It would be smart to listen before insulting them," Sanji berated me.

I groaned, sitting down on the snowy side of the ship. Luffy walked down to the center of the deck and called out to the people on the bank, seemingly oblivious to the bows.

"Can you please take us to your doctor? One of our nakama is sick, and we need someone to help her."

The eyes of the large man hardened, and he said stiffly, "No. You must turn around and leave this island at once."

Luffy tried again, bowing his head. "Please. We don't have time to go to another island. We barely even have time to get her on shore."

Another arrow shot by.

"No."

Luffy slowly knelt down on the deck, touching his head to the planks.

"We're _begging_ you to please let us see your doctor. Our nakama might not hold out much longer."

I could see the terrible word forming, so my patience snapped and I yelled, "Hey! Your shitty little minds might not be able to comprehend the situation, but ya know what I see? I see my captain, who I _respect_, kneeling in front of some piece of shit who can't bring his selfish little mind to let a dying person see a doctor!"

Something in my rant must have hit a nerve, because the people started to whisper among themselves. The crossbow of the man in charge lowered slightly, and he spoke in a quieter voice.

"Bring your comrade to me, and we might be able to do something about her condition."

I still scowled. "Finally. I guess some bears do have hearts."

Vivi emerged from the cabin, carrying Nami, who was wrapped in blankets from head to toe. She lay her down on the deck and moved the blankets away from her face so that the man could inspect her condition. He jumped onto the deck with a thump, walked over to Nami and bent down to look at her. Finally, he straightened and spoke in an authoritative voice.

"We have one doctor, but we cannot guarantee when she will come. She lives on a mountain top and only comes down on a whim with her strange creature. We call her a witch. You should bring your comrade into the village. The villagers," he looked pointedly at the people who had accompanied him in shooting at our ship, "will go back to their houses."

Grumbling quietly, they all turned and started back towards their respective houses, while we set about getting ready for the walk into the village.

XxX

Now, you might ask me why I was currently sprawled stomach-down on the deck with a sword aimed at my back. I will give you the short answer first: snowman-kitty woke up, chased me, then cook accidentally tripped me. Now for the details:

It was a few minutes after the villagers had left. Most of us were inside, but we had forgotten about our zombie-snowman-kitty who was still outside. It was me who first heard the growl from the door, but it was all of us who noticed when the door was kicked open with an angry Zoro standing in the frame with the marker smudged off his face.

"Geez, man, don't wreak the Merry." Usopp said grouchily.

Ignoring him, the furious swordsman marched up to me and Sanji.

"Which of you was it?" he growled.

My hand immediately flew up to point at Sanji, while he suddenly became very interested in a spot on the counter. Zoro stared in confusion, but then made up his mind. Apparently, it was me.

"You." he said, drawing one of his katana.

For lack of a better reaction, I yelped and scurried out the door. Sanji, trying to save me from the terror that was the snowman-kitty, ran towards me to block Zoro. Unfortunately, one of Usopp's inventions was lying on the ground and he tripped over it. He managed to keep himself from falling by grabbing the doorframe, but he accidentally crashed into me and I was sent sprawling on the outside deck.

"Dammit, shit cook!" I yelled as I crashed to the floor ungracefully. I tried to push myself up, but I felt the cold metal of the blade digging into my back. Behind me, I heard Vivi gasp.

"Sanji, how could you do that to a lady?" she asked, horrified.

I laughed from my spot on the ground as Sanji frantically apologized.

"It's okay Vivi. I don't act like a lady much, so it's fine with me."

"Yes, but still..." she mumbled, trailing off.

I turned my attention to my captor.

"So... what now, snowman?"

The sword pushed me down further.

"You. You will stay like that until you apologize and I see fit to release you."

I groaned. "Well, that's gonna take forever 'cuz I sure as hell don't feel the need to apologize to a baka-marimo like you."

The sword twitched.

"Hey, hey, hey! I don't need three injuries, two is enough for now!"

Usopp coughed. "Yeah, Anni. About that scar on your knee, where did it come from?"

I grinned. "From a huge spider on the giant's island! Actually, I don't think that I killed it..." I trailed off.

From behind me, Vivi and Usopp shivered, and removed themselves from the conversation with the excuse that they had to get Nami ready. Then Luffy spoke up.

"Did it have reddish-orange stripes and long fangs and look like a demon spider?"

I recalled the image and the description fit pretty well.

"Yeah, kinda."

"Shishishi," Luffy chuckled, "That must have been the spider I found in the crow's nest on the mast! He was cool, but I had to make him a cage so he wouldn't fall overboard. He's down in the guy's room."

The sword removed itself from my back.

"What. Did. You. Just. Say?" said a quiet voice from above my head.

Luffy jumped over the piles of snow to dig out the trapdoor. Opening it, he disappeared, and reappeared with a cage the size of a dog kennel. Inside was a large dark shape that hissed menacingly at the sight of me.

A reflex set my hand on fire, and I walked towards it slowly.

"Luffy, that little bastard needs to die. So back away from the cage."

He covered it protectively.

"No! He's mine, and you can't hurt him! Don't worry, Fluffy," he said to the spider.

"Fluffy?!" Zoro asked incredulously.

Luffy grinned. "Yeah, Fluffy! That's his name, because when you write it down, it looks like Luffy!"

Sanji sighed quietly. "I didn't know you could write. Or read, for that matter."

"Anyways, that abomination does not belong to the land of the living, so it's now my job to remove it." I said venomously, but before I could do anything, the door banged open and Vivi stepped out with Nami hanging from her and Usopp's shoulders.

"Alright! Let's go..." she trailed off, looking at the cage. "Luffy, what is that?"

Before he could answer and scare Vivi and Usopp out of their minds, I pushed him down into the guy's room, making sure not to touch the cage.

"Luffy, leave that thing down here, and I promise not to kill it." I muttered.

He tucked the cage away under a blanket and turned to me. "Promise?"

"...Promise..." I said, dragging the word out.

"Yosha! Let's go save Nami!" he cheered.

XxX

The man came back a few minutes after we were ready. He introduced himself as Dalton. Nami was lifted onto Sanji's back, and we started out towards the village, aside from Zoro, who was volun-told by Luffy to guard the ship with Carue, as long as he didn't hurt Fluffy. Actually, Luffy would have made me stay as well, but he didn't trust me enough to protect (not murder) that atrocity of living beings.

As we walked to the village, a giant bear strolled past us with a pick in its hands. Dalton told us that it was a Hiking Bear, and to bow when we passed it, so we did.

Upon entering the village, we were swarmed with people asking if Dalton was alright. One old man mentioned, "Ah, Dalton. I'm looking forwards to the election. I'm sure we're all going to vote for you!"

Dalton responded negatively, saying that he had too many sins to be whatever their leader was called, king, emperor, mayor... yeah.

I heard heavy footsteps from behind us. Thinking that it must be another Hiking Bear, I bowed, and Luffy and Usopp followed suit. It was only when the bear spoke, that we realized that it wasn't a bear at all, but a woman. I rubbed the back of my head, slightly embarrassed, until we were ushered inside Dalton's house.

As we lay Nami down on a bed, Dalton spoke to Vivi.

"I feel as though I have met you before. Do I know you?"

Vivi quickly turned her head, and I interrupted, "Hey, so what's that witch like, and what about that 'strange creature'?"

Dalton turned and spoke seriously, "The mountains out there are called the Drum Rockies, and the tallest one had a castle without a king. That is where our witch, Dr. Kureha, lives. However, she does come down from time to time, riding on her sleigh pulled by her strange pet."

I nodded. "Okay, so you're saying that we can't get Nami treated until we climb this mountain, right? This sucks."

"Luffy! What the hell are you doing to Nami?!"

I spun around from the window to see Luffy gently slapping Nami's face.

"Hey... Hey, Nami, can you hear me?"

Nami stirred and opened her eyes slowly as Luffy said, "We need to see a doctor that lives on a mountain, so we're going mountain climbing, 'kay?"

Nami groaned and nodded slightly, before falling back to sleep.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Sanji said incredulously.

Luffy looked at him. "It's fine. I can carry her."

"Yeah, that's not what I meant. How will she survive mountain climbing in this snow?" Sanji asked.

"How will she survive down here, if the witch doesn't come?" I chimed in seriously.

Sanji, Vivi and Usopp stared at me.

"Point taken. So, we're going mountain climbing to save Nami-san's life." Sanji spoke quietly.

Luffy looked around at us. "So it's settled. We will leave in the morning to go find the witch."

* * *

A/N

Yeah, short chapter. I really wanted to post something though, because I haven't for the past week or so. :( Anyways, good news! Science fair is over, so I have more time to write! Yay! I will try my best to get the next chapter out within a week.

Hey! The spider returned! I bet you thought that I had forgotten! Don't worry, I have an idea of what to do with it, but feel free to leave suggestions.

Btw, I know you guys are out there... with ideas and suggestions... hint hint... no pressure, seriously, but still...

See ya!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N

Okay, so I have a legit reason this time. The day that I planned to finish and edit the chapter turned out to be the day of three tests and a talent show. Other than that...

Enjoy!

* * *

Anni's POV

In the morning, Luffy, Sanji, and I set off with Nami to the mountain. I packed my bag with essential things like my dagger, a water bottle, and marshmallows. Luffy carried Nami on his back, while Sanji and I came for protection against the Lapahn. Dalton told us to go on the opposite slope to avoid being attacked by the giant rabbits. I personally thought that we could take on a few bunnies and Luffy and Sanji agreed, so before anyone could complain, we set off in the direction of the mountain.

We were walking for an hour or so when we first caught a glimpse of the first one. It was about knee height, the same as that demon spider that I was going to murder. It growled murderously, and jumped at my knees, but Sanji kicked out at it and sent it flying into a tree. It shook off the snow and leaped again, but this time I shot a fireball at it, knocking it into one of the many snowdrifts.

As we continued up the slope, the over-sized bunny jumped repeatedly at us, but it didn't cause much of a disturbance aside from the inconvenience of knocking it away. It eventually disappeared into the trees, but I felt that it didn't really go away.

The snow flakes started to blow harder, stinging against my skin. I contemplated putting on the jacket that Vivi gave me, but my stubbornness won out and I just pulled it tighter around my waist.

Sanji noticed this and asked, "Hey, Anni, how do you put up with the cold? It makes me cold just to look at you."

"Well then don't look at me. I have fire-style powers, remember? I'm not affected by temperature much." I grumbled.

Luffy chuckled. "You look kinda cold to me. I mean, your hands are turning slightly blue and all..."

Sanji, not breaking his stride, ran over to me and inspected my hands. He looked like he was about to say something mushy and flirty, but a strange, serious look came over his face and he continued running with a, "Don't get frostbite. We still need to get Nami to the doctor, and if you pass out, we won't get there as fast."

Now thoroughly annoyed, I muttered, "Don't worry, love cook. If I pass out, I'll just keep sleep running through muscle memory. I've done it a few times before. I'm a pro."

Sanji mumbled just loud enough for me to hear, "Shitty stubborn pyro."

I rolled my eyes and ignored him, refocusing on the path ahead, where there were... what exactly? A dozen or so bears -no, rabbits, I realized- had blocked the path and were growling ferociously at us. The biggest one in the center had a scar over one eye, and behind it I spotted the bunny that had been constantly bugging us. It looked at me and snarled, but compared to the others it was too cute for me to take seriously.

Despite the menacing sight in front of us, I giggled at the small bunny. Luffy's and Sanji's heads both swiveled in my direction, and even Nami stirred slightly, raising her head a fraction.

"What?" I asked self-consciously.

"Y-You..." Luffy stuttered slowly.

"What?!" I questioned more forcefully.

"You don't..." Sanji started.

"I. Don't. What?!" I asked in a very final tone.

"You don't make that kind of noise." He finished.

I scoffed. "So you guys are surprised because I laugh?"

Luffy shook his head. "No, because you just _giggled_."

Huffing, I rolled my eyes, turning back to the rabbits, who looked kinda pissed off that we were ignoring them.

"So, these are the Lapahn?" I asked, changing the subject.

Luffy shook his head vehemently. "No. They're big and white and furry. They're polar bears, not rabbits." he chuckled, continuing, "I think you're just nervous about them, because rabbits don't look like this."

Without any warning, the lead rabbit leaped at us, clearing a good fifteen feet or so. Skidding backwards, I heard Sanji exclaim, "Shit, it's unnatural. How the hell can it move like that?"

"Idiot, it's a rabbit. Were you expecting it to crawl?" I said sarcastically.

"No, it's a jumping polar bear!" Luffy corrected.

I straightened up and lit my fists on fire, preparing to attack, but Luffy put an arm out.

"Our first priority is to get Nami to the doctor." he said, leaping over the rabbits.

Sanji and I followed suit, only pausing to give the rabbits a warning kick or punch. Unfortunately, the rabbits didn't take kindly to us passing through. They jumped at us all at once and we had to dodge the swinging paws and huge bodies. Luffy stretched an arm back to attack but both Sanji ans I grabbed it and pulled it back carefully.

"Baka! If you attack, Nami will feel the shock!" Sanji scolded, kicking out at the furry attacker.

I whipped around and punched away another Lapahn before it could hit Luffy and Nami.

"Same goes for if you get hit. So just dodge and keep running. We'll catch up in a sec."

I shoved a protesting Luffy in the direction of the mountain, and turned to face the giant... fearsome... ferocious... bunnies.

_I don't believe this. Luffy has to retreat because of a bunch of bunnies. My life is..._

I sighed and turned to Sanji.

"Alright! I'll take the ones on the right, you take the ones on the left, and if either of us is about to die, don't forget to scream."

He smiled dryly at my evaluation of the situation.

"Sounds good, but try not to die, 'cause the others would kill you." He replied sarcastically.

I laughed and sprung into the mass of Lapahn, fists flying everywhere. I pulled out my dagger, but then I felt a stab of regret for slicing up these rabbits, no matter how evil they seemed.

The one with the scar seemed practically indestructible, as I kept hitting it and it just came back. As I was focusing on it, another came up behind me and slashed at my back, ripping through my shirt. I swore, stumbling slightly. I could feel the warm blood soaking through my clothes and dripping onto the snow. It wasn't deep, but it was certainly painful and inconvenient.

_Shitshitshit..._

I suddenly got an idea to end this in one go.

"Sanji, back off!" I yelled over the noise.

Mustering my energy, I jumped back out of the fight and put my hands together, palms facing the rabbits. I built up resistance, and then let it all go in one giant, destructive fireball. The fireball set most of them on fire, and knocked back the ones that weren't.

I scanned the snow for Sanji. I couldn't find him until...

_NO!_

I spotted him lying face-down in the snow, with a slowly growing red spot on the back of his head. Running over to him, I lifted his head propped him up. He stirred slightly, and started to mumble. I put my head down to listen.

"D... don't tell people about this..."

I smiled sadly. "Geez. You're nearly dead, and you want me to not tell people?"

He nodded weakly.

"Alright, then. No promises if anyone asks me specifically though."

I draped my jacket around him to keep him warm and lifted him onto my back like Luffy did with Nami, then started to jog gently in the direction that Luffy went.

XxX

On the way there, the small rabbit that had annoyed us at first was crouched over its leg. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the leg was trapped in a hole in some ice. It growled at me as I approached with Sanji, but I couldn't leave it stuck there. I have a secret weakness for certain types of cute animals, and this was definitely one of them. I stumbled through the snow, my back stinging from the cold even though Sanji was shielding me from the worst of it. It tried to wriggle away from me, but I gently melted the ice around its foot, allowing it to run away and hide behind a tree, but it watched me as I continued on my path.

XxX

I finally met up with Luffy at the bottom of the mountain. As I walked up to him, he turned, and, seeing Sanji, proceeded to ask in a worried tone about the events that had happened after he had left. I explained as best I could without it sounding lame. At the end of my story, Luffy said nothing, but started climbing up the side of the cliff.

Clearing my throat, I said, "Hey Luffy, if I fall, catch Sanji first, 'kay?"

He nodded silently. I secured Sanji onto my still bleeding back and got a good handhold on the ice before pulling myself up slowly. I could feel the snowflakes like tiny needles on my bare arms and legs, and the cold of the ice seeping through my gloves. I could only imagine Luffy was feeling the same way, so I tried to send him positive vibes.

About a quarter of the way up the mountain, Sanji suddenly slipped off my shoulder and hung backwards like a doll, pulling my feet off the mountainside. I found myself clinging onto the cliff by just my hands, but they were slowly losing grip too. Just as I was about to drop into the space below me, an arm stretched and pulled me by the collar of my t-shirt back onto the cliff. I regained my footing and looked above me to thank Luffy, but he was already moving up.

Around the halfway point, Luffy's hand slipped off his handhold, leaving a trail of blood on the ice. Without making a sound, he tried again, but the same thing happened. I edged my way along to him and melted a handhold in the ice for him to grab onto. He silently acknowledged my gesture and continued climbing.

We were nearly at the top when I suddenly felt the impact of the change in oxygen levels. My eyes started to droop, and I lost sense of the time that had passed. The only things that kept me awake and sane were Luffy's constant climbing and Sanji's head on my shoulder. I reminded myself that if I didn't get to the top soon, then Sanji would most likely die.

I closed my eyes for a moment just to concentrate on my surroundings, but a moment was all it took for my muscles to relax and my hand immediately lost its grip. I would have fallen to the ground, if not for Luffy grabbing my arm and yanking me back up.

Quietly, I whispered, "I'm not sure what to say when you just saved both our lives, but the closest I can get is thank you."

"It's fine." he replied almost silently.

As we neared the edge of the top of the mountain, my remaining blood rushed to my head. Not making the same mistake, I kept climbing at a steady pace, if not faster. My head pounded to my heartbeat and my vision blurred, but I moved my hands and feet in the same pattern that I had been following the whole way up.

_Hand. Foot. Hand. Foot._

Out of my limited eyesight, I saw Luffy disappear over the edge. I desperately pulled myself up the remaining five feet and collapsed in the snow at the top. Mustering my remaining strength, I untied Sanji from my back, but didn't move him because I knew that if he got too cold, he would die for sure. Also, my back wound would hurt like freaking hell if the snow hit it.

I lay in the snow without moving, but I knew that Luffy was feeling the same way. Exhausted. Satisfied. Helpless. All we could do was wait for the witch to come save us.

XxX

I woke up in a soft white bed. The walls of the room were made of stone, and it was surprisingly cold. Across the room, there were some bookshelves and a table with medicinal supplies. In front of the desk, there was a chair, and in it was... what, exactly?

It was a furry creature with a red hat and darker red shorts. He (I assumed it was a he) was grinding some kind of leaf berry mixture. He jumped off the chair and padded across the floor to my bed, jumping up on a stool that was positioned next to my head.

I still felt slightly delirious, and the first thought that came to my mind was that he was adorably cute, so I stretched out one of my arms to grab him. I managed to capture one of his arms so that he couldn't get away, and hugged him tightly.

_Aww... he's so soft!_

Apparently, he did not take kindly to being squished. He wriggled out of my hug and ran across the room to hide part of his face behind the door frame.

"No... Come back..." I slurred, not fully awake yet.

He shivered, then yelled, "Shut up, human! You nearly died! How do you feel?"

Not quite sure whether that last comment had been a challenge or a legitimate question, I replied with a tired grin, "I feel just perfect! How about you? I guess you always feel good, 'cause you're so soft and furry and all... By the way, are you the one that took care of me and my nakama?"

He poked his small blue nose out from behind the door frame and whispered, "Yes, but I'm a blue nosed reindeer that can talk. Don't you hate me?"

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"No! You're adorable and fluffy and cute and smart and talented and kind and amazing for helping us out. And personally, I think you're just about the cutest little thing I've ever seen."

An ecstatic expression appeared on his face and he did an adorable little happy dance.

"Shut up, human! Even if you say that, it doesn't make me happy at all!"

I smiled. "Okay, well if you're not happy, then you should do something that cheers you up! I have a perfect idea. Can you grab my bag for me?"

He ran off to get it as I puzzled about his attitude towards humans. What could have happened to him? And why him? He seemed too sweet and innocent to have a terrible past.

_Whatever it is, I'm sure that I can help, even slightly._

He returned a few minutes later with my bag in his hands (Paws? Hooves?). I set it down on my knees and opened it, searching for a particular item.

"Aha!" I exclaimed, pulling out the bag of puffy, sugary, goodness and offered him one. "Eat one of these if you're not happy!"

He poked at it tentatively, testing for explosions or something. When all seemed fine, he grabbed it and popped it into his mouth. Immediately, his eyes lit up and he reached for another one. He jumped up onto the side of my bed, and we ate in a comfortable silence, until I decided to ask a few questions.

"Hey, so, I don't actually know your name. What is it?"

"Thony Thony Cthoppah." he replied with a mouthful of marshmallow.

Fortunately, I was experienced with people who talk with their mouths full so I could translate.

"Tony Tony Chopper?"

"Mm."

My face scrunched up in a smile.

"Aww! That's such a wonderful name! So, Chopper, are you the witch doctor that the people in the village talk about?"

He looked down glumly.

"No, that's Dr. Kureha. I'm just an assistant."

I nudged him.

"Well you must be pretty good to take care of patients like me. See, I'm all fixed!"

A shadow fell across the bed where we were sitting. I looked up and saw an old lady, but she must not have been any older than sixty. She was in good shape, with a crop top and a pierced bellybutton. In her hand was a bottle of sake, and she wore small, dark, sunglasses.

"What have you been eating, Chopper? You're not supposed to eat thing while on duty, and especially not if the patients give it to you."

I smiled cheerfully.

"Don't worry, uh, Dr. Kureha. They're just marshmallows. Not poisonous."

Ignoring me, she flipped me over onto my stomach, and pulled up the back of my shirt. It was then that I noticed the bandages around me, holding my wound together. She inspected them, and then made a slight sound of approval. As she let me go, I flushed slightly and pulled my shirt down. I had never been very good with 'inspections'.

The witch looked at me and said, "You can call me Doctorine. And by the way, your friends are alive and kicking."

I sighed with relief. They had all made it.

* * *

A/N

Ehh... that was an abrupt ending. I'll try to make the next one longer. Oh, a little insight into Anni's character. She loves sugar and cute animals, even though she's tough and slightly violent. Just if you hadn't noticed. ;) Ugh, I'm so tired. But spring break is coming up! Yay! There's gonna be another 'Anni loses control' moment, because I haven't included one for a while.

Special thanks to my constant reviewer, pizzafan123. Thank you!

See ya!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N

Yeah! Ten chapters! If any of you were wondering when I'm gonna stop, it'll be at the end of the One Piece plot. Wait, what did you say? You want to know what this 'end of the plot' is that I speak of? Well, I don't really know what it means either, only that it has nothing to do with One Piece. So, yeah. It's probably gonna go on for a long time. Long, long time. ;)

Btw, we updated our bio. It's much funnier now.

* * *

Anni's POV

Dr. Kureha decided that I was fine to walk around, even though my wound hadn't completely healed yet. Chopper showed me where my nakama were and said that I was fine to visit them any time. Nami was in a room similar to mine, but in reverse. Sanji and Luffy had been put in the same room, and since Nami was still recovering, I decided to visit them first.

I walked in with Chopper. The room was dark, and they were both sleeping peacefully. Dr. Kureha had told me to try not to wake them up, but I could if I wanted to. First, I decided to wake up Sanji, and apologize for not looking out for him in the fight against the Lapahn.

I sat down on his bed and poked his bandaged stomach, but he just rolled over, muttering something about exotic food. I shook his side until he woke up. His eyes opened and a glowing smile crossed over his face.

"Ah, what a wonderful thing to be woken up by such an angel. What brings you here to me?" he murmured, trying to sit up.

I pushed him back down onto his pillow, muttering, "I'll show _you_ angel."

Sighing, I said, "Please, for once, be serious."

He nodded.

"I'm really sorry."

His eyes widened. "What for?"

"I... think I hurt you with that fireball that I shot at the Lapahn." I trailed off.

He furrowed his one visible eyebrow.

"No, I don't believe you did. One of the rabbits jumped and hit my head. I haven't found any burn marks either."

"Really?" I asked hopefully.

"Yeah. Actually, I might have dodged it by collapsing." he responded thoughtfully.

I smiled. "That's a relief. I thought that I had nearly killed you!"

I bent down and hugged him quickly, then stood up and noticed the all-encompassing grin on his face.

Smacking his arm lightly, I muttered, "Pervert."

I turned to leave and let him get some sleep, when he reached out and grabbed my arm.

"Wait, what happened to your back? There's blood on it!" he asked, panicking.

Twisting around I responded, "Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that. One of the Lapahn scratched me. It's fine though, I don't think that it'll scar."

He groaned and relaxed back on the bed.

"Whatever spirit of luck watches over you isn't kind."

I smiled gently, prying his hand from my arm.

"Whatever spirit of luck watches over me caused me to meet you guys, so it can't be all bad."

I exited the room, hearing two sets of gentle snores follow me out.

XxX

The next time that I went in was for Luffy. I did the same thing that I did with Sanji, poking his stomach until he woke up.

"Oi."

"Oi."

"Oi, Luffy, wake up!"

He mumbled something about meat and opened his eyes slowly.

"Wha... Anni, what are we doing here?"

Gesturing to the room, I answered, "We got to the top of the mountain and the witch found us, and there's this cute little reindeer with a blue nose, and he loves marshmallows, and everyone's fine, and it turns out that I didn't almost kill Sanji, and Nami's fine but recovering, and..." I ran out of air, gasping.

"Hmmm..." Luffy seemed to be contemplating the situation, but then said, "So is there any meat?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, but I have marshmallows. Want one?"

I pulled the remaining packet out of my bag and offered him one. He took one and munched on it while I told him what the witch had told me about Nami's condition.

"... and that's why we have to stay for another few days before Nami's all better." I finished.

His eyes shifted from me to something behind me. Turning, I spotted Chopper replacing some of the sheets. I turned back to Luffy, but he was gone. Hearing a shrill scream from Chopper confirmed my suspicions.

"No, Luffy! This is Chopper, not food!" I chased after them as they ran in circles around the castle.

XxX

Eventually, many screams, punches, and marshmallows later, I managed to convince Luffy that Chopper was not for eating and Chopper that Luffy wouldn't eat him. I stuffed their mouths with marshmallows and made them promise not to cause any more trouble. I mean, they had probably given poor Nami a heart attack with all the shouting and crashing.

Chopper and I led Luffy back to his room, but on the way, we passed by Nami's room. Peeking in, we found Dr. Kureha, Nami, and Sanji talking together. I opened the door and walked in, and immediately, Nami's face lit up at the sight of us.

"Anni! Luffy!"

"Hey Nami," I replied.

"Nami! You're alright!" Luffy exclaimed.

I grumbled, "What, so you didn't believe me?"

Dr. Kureha interrupted, clearing her throat to get our attention.

"I'm glad that you feel good enough to run around, but I need you to go back to your rooms and rest," she ordered strictly, "And Chopper, you need to go make more of the medicine that I'm using for this girl's back wound." she indicated at me.

As Chopper padded off, Nami looked at me worriedly.

"What happened to your back?" she asked.

I groaned in exasperation. "It got scratched in the fight that we had with those rabbits. No biggie."

Dr. Kureha took a step forwards.

"It was more than just a scratch, girly. I thought that you were going to die of blood loss when I found you four laying in all that blood. You had carried your nakama up the side of this mountain, all the while bleeding heavily."

Sanji spoke up. "Wait, you carried one of us up the mountain? With that wound?"

I grinned. "Yup! I mean, you couldn't have carried yourself, could you?"

He seemed speechless, so I changed the conversation topic to something that I had been wondering about.

"So, Dr. Kureha," I started.

"You want to know my secret to living until my still-young one hundred thirties?"

I blinked. "No, I was wondering about Chopper. He's a reindeer, but he can talk, and he seems to be on bad terms with humans. Why?"

She sighed, taking a gulp of her sake.

"Chopper ate one of the Devil's Fruits; the Hito Hito Fruit. It allows him to take on the abilities of a human and change his shape. He's also a doctor, and a damn good one at that. I've taught him every scrap of my knowledge that I can."

I nodded. "So that's why he can talk, but what about his problem with humans? He seemed pretty mad at me at first, even though I don't think I did anything."

She looked away, chugging her sake. "He'll tell you about it when he's ready. His childhood was pretty rough and he didn't have any friends. For now though, you might be best to keep complimenting and talking to him. He doesn't get that much around here, and it would be good for him to make a friend or two."

Luffy smiled widely. "Well, if he's a doctor, he can come be one of our nakama! Yosh! It's decided! Chopper will come and sail the Grand Line as our doctor and nakama!"

"You can't just decide things like that without us!" Nami and Sanji yelled in unison.

The doctor put down her bottle. "If you want him, go ahead and take him. You'll need his trust, though, and he doesn't trust easily after what has happened to him."

Sanji sat down on a chair next to Nami's bed and said thoughtfully, "But, you know, he does seem like a wonderful doctor."

"And he seems like the type we can trust," Nami continued.

"And he's cute!" I added for good measure.

Sanji jumped to his feet and Luffy started towards the door. I followed suit and walked towards the door.

"What are you guys doing?" Nami asked confusedly.

I grinned over my shoulder. "We're gonna go find Chopper and ask him to come with us!"

She pushed her blankets back, but Dr. Kureha sat down on her legs, preventing her from following us. She looked momentarily upset, but it quickly turned to fear as the doctor whispered something in her ear.

"Nami will be staying here with me," the satisfied doctor announced, with a glance at Nami that said, _just try going with them._

I smiled inwardly at her terror; Nami was usually so calm and manipulative. Looking around for my captain and cook, they had already left, so I sprinted after them to prevent them from getting lost or destroying half the castle.

XxX

A couple circuits around the halls later, I leaned over the balcony and spotted the two idiots. I leaped down to land in one of the many snowdrifts on the floor. Sanji was poking Luffy's arm, saying something about how cold it was.

Luffy looked down at his bare arms and legs and started shivering.

"It's cold in here!" he exclaimed.

Rolling my eyes, I wondered, "How do you not notice these things?"

Looking up at the giant open wooden doors, Sanji suggested, "Well, if we close these doors, it might be warmer in here. I'm sure Nami-san will thank me -ahem- us for it."

I snickered quietly at Sanji's obsession, then remembered that we were actually looking for Chopper.

"Hey, guys..." I started as they began to push on the doors. Before they could get far, however, Chopper spoke from behind us.

"Stop."

"C'mon, it's cold in here," Sanji said without pausing.

Chopper suddenly transformed into a huge human-shaped form. He was easily six feet tall and could pass for a human. He glared murderously at us and yelled, "I said stop!"

He charged past me to Luffy and Sanji, knocking them off their feet. He then returned the doors to their original positions and shrunk back down. Looking up, I spotted something at the top of the doors.

"Hey, look. There's a snowbird nest on the top of that door," I pointed out.

Luffy followed the direction of my stare to the nest in question where the small birds were chirping softly.

"Oh, I see. And if we had closed the doors, they would've fallen," he said quietly.

Sanji spun around to thank Chopper, but he was already walking away, head down.

"Anni-chan, you seem to be the only one of us he trusts. Could you please thank him for us?" Sanji whispered to me.

I nodded, running over to Chopper. I knelt down to his current eye level as if I were speaking to a child.

"Chopper, we're very sorry that we tried to close the doors. We didn't see the nest, and we're very thankful that you came to stop us," I said softly.

He sniffled. "But aren't you scared of me? I'm a... a monster!"

I stroked the top of his head. "So am I. And Luffy, and Sanji too."

He looked up with teary eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Well, have you ever heard of the Mugiwara Pirates? Or the Demon's Daughter, Anni?" I grinned.

Chopper nodded. "I heard Doctorine talking about them in town. I heard that the Demon's Daughter isn't a pirate, marine, or bounty hunter. She's apparently just beating up criminals for fun, but they think she could have some ulterior motive. She apparently has amazing fire powers and hasn't been noticed until a week ago or so. She's scary."

I slapped my forehead with my palm at the over-exaggerated rumors. "Well, I wouldn't say that I beat people up for fun, and I am a pirate, but I do like to think of myself as intimidating, if not scary."

Poor Chopper's jaw dropped at this revelation. He shrieked and ran to hide behind one of the stair railings.

"Y-You're... the Demon's Daughter?" he squeaked.

I grinned and stood up, placing my hands on my hips. "Yup! But you don't think I'm scary, do you, Chopper?"

He came out slowly. "No, not so far."

"Then you're fine! I like you a lot, and it would be more than a shame if you were scared of me," I grinned.

He padded towards me slowly, as if I had suddenly changed in the last few seconds. When he got close enough, I grabbed him and lifted him up into a hug.

_He's so soft!_

Suddenly, he stiffened, looking over my shoulder. He squirmed out of my arms and transformed into a reindeer-like shape. Then he started running up the stairs, back to Dr. Kureha and Nami.

"Hey, Chopper, what's up?" I yelled, slightly confused.

He looked over his shoulder as he ran.

"I have to tell Doctorine! He's back!" he replied with a scared note in his voice.

"Who?" I asked, running after him with Luffy and Sanji hot on my heels.

"Wapol!"

XxX

We burst into the room, scaring the living shit out of Nami. She jumped a good two inches out of her bed and uttered a bird-like shriek at the sight of us. Chopper skidded to a stop in front of Dr. Kureha's chair.

"What is it, Chopper?" Dr. Kureha asked as he 'poofed' back into his original form.

"It's Wapol. He's back!" Chopper gasped.

Dr. Kureha shot up from her chair and dashed to the window, looking out at the hippo-like thing on the snow covered front yard.

"Damn. I guess I knew that old shit would come back sooner or later." she said, dashing out the door.

Sanji, Chopper, Luffy, and I ran after her, down the stairs and out the front door. When we got there, the three of us pirates gasped. It was the ship-eating, stubby, metal-jawed, loudmouth that caused Usopp a heart attack by taking a bite out of the Merry. Luffy immediately dashed forwards, shouting, "Gomu Gomu no... Pistol!"

His rubber fist slammed into Wapol's face, knocking him backwards into his hippo-creature. The jester thing and the knight thing both screamed, running over to check on him. I figured I had a few moments before he got back up, so I turned to Dr. Kureha and asked, "Alright. What the hell is going on here?"

She turned to me. "You know him?"

"Yeah, the metal faced one tried to eat our ship," Luffy said, keeping his eyes on Wapol.

"Well, you are most definitely an interesting pirate crew. Wapol was once the king of this island. In an attempt to gain total control over the people, he exiled or killed all of the doctors except for the best and most talented twenty, calling them the 'Issha Twenty'. I was not part of that twenty, but I managed to escape detection. Choppers former mentor, Dr. Hiluluk, was the other doctor who escaped. The fool. He tried to keep treating people. He found Chopper, sick and injured, and took him in for about a year. One day, there was an announcement that said that the twenty doctors were sick. Dr. Hiluluk went to treat them, but it was a trap and he blew himself up. Do you see that flag?" she pointed to a skull and crossbones with sakura petals flying from the highest tower, "That's the flag that Dr. Hiluluk flew against all illness. He was a brave man, and Chopper respected him a lot."

It was a sad story, and I felt a wave of pity for Chopper, but I focused on the fight at hand. Wapol had gotten up and was spouting some nonsense about the greatness of the Baku Baku Fruit. He morphed into some kind of house, and ate his two companions. They then came out a set of doors in the front, dressed in one costume. The jester was being piggybacked by the afro-knight, and frankly, they looked like idiots.

Luffy, however, thought this was absolutely amazing. He stared at them with stars in his eyes, even as Wapol continued to ramble on about his own greatness.

"Now you're going to regret ever moving into my castle!" he yelled to no one in particular.

"I have no interest in this pile of ruble, but this boy here wanted to make a memorial for Hiluluk," said Dr. Kureha, indicating to Chopper.

"What?! That's nonsense!" Wapol screamed.

Chopper interrupted. "No, see, that's his flag up there!"

"Well then, I'll just have to shoot it down!" Wapol said, raising an arm.

Aiming one of his canon arms at it, Wapol shot a blast at the waving flag. The smoke concealed the results, but as it cleared, I saw Luffy standing on the tower, flag in hand. Neither one had been harmed. He glared at Wapol.

"You don't deserve to attack this flag. If you're not willing to put your own life on the line, you cannot stand up to the skull and crossbones. This is the mark of a pirate, and it's indestructible!" he shouted.

As Luffy lept down to attack Wapol, the afro-knight/jester combination shot a ball of hair at Sanji and Dr. Kureha as they were distracted. Sanji blocked it with his leg, but as he tried to shake it off, he found that it was stuck.

"What the hell is this? It's stuck to my leg!" he yelled, shaking it frantically.

The afro-knight grinned, saying, "It's stuck with static electricity. By the way, you should know something about afros... they burn."

The afro-knight shot three more hairballs at Sanji, sticking to his arms and legs. Then, the jester thing on the top took out a bow with a flaming arrow and shot it at Sanji. Fortunately, Luffy chose that moment to jump back to Sanji and block the arrow. He deflected it into the mouth of the house machine. Wapol yelled in surprise, waving his canon arms at his mouth. This only resulted in them both going off, knocking him down into the snow. He stood up, growling.

"You've done it this time, Mugiwara. I'll destroy you!" he shouted with smoke floating out of his mouth.

"Eh? That was your own fault!" Luffy stated, unaware of Wapol's frustration.

Wapol yelled at the sky in reply.

Sanji stepped in front of Luffy, ready to take on Wapol, but Dr. Kureha tripped him and stood on his back.

"Not this time, boy. You'll end up triggering that head wound and you'll have to stay here even longer. Is that what you want?" she asked, rhetorically.

Sanji mumbled something through the snow that sounded suspiciously like, 'shit doctor'. Dr. Kureha ground her heel into his back, and he stopped complaining.

I looked over at Chopper, who was facing off against the afrojester. He held out a small yellow ball, then crunched it between his teeth.

"Rumble Ball!" he shouted.

The afrojester shot a flaming hairball at him, but he morphed into a giant fluffball and bounced out of the way. I decided to help him out a little.

"Hey, Chopper," I said, running up to him, "You can't just grab the spotlight like this. Let's figure out some combo moves together!"

He smiled at me and said, "Yeah! I can take him down myself, but I would like to see if you can fight as well as Doctorine says you can!"

He morphed into a human-like shape, but very tall, with strong arms. He picked me up and jumped high into the air, throwing me like an arrow at the two enemies, shouting, "Jumping Point!"

My fist slammed into the jester, knocking them both off balance. Chopper landed in front of me with another transformation, this time with huge antlers. He pierced the side of the afro knight, throwing them into the side of the castle.

"This is going to be my strongest attack," he whispered, transforming into a human-like shape with huge arms, "So I need you to light both your fists on fire and attack at the same time as me."

I nodded almost imperceptibly, doing as he said. The jester and afro knight stumbled to their feet, wobbling towards us. We dashed forwards together, attacking at the same time, as Chopper yelled, "Flaming Kokutei Roseo!"

Our combined strengths left an imprint of a clover and a fist in the costume that the two were wearing, sending them flying over the edge of the cliff screaming.

Chopper sighed. "Two minutes."

* * *

A/N

I know, I know, I said I wouldn't leave off on an abrupt ending, but hey, at least this chapter was long, right? Also, I know some of you won't like me for this, but what about a pairing between Anni and someone else? A certain favorite character of mine is coming up, and I want to know what you guys think about it. This will NOT change the genres AT ALL, but it'll be a little like the Valentine's Day chapter, as in very minimal romance *ahem, due to author's lack of experience*.

So, to recap, what you need to let me know (please):

1) Pairing? (yes/no)

2) Who do you think it should be with? (can be anyone)

3) If you think there should be a little tiny bit of romance. (independent from other answers)

4) And why the hell am I mixing up my 'c' and 's' keys?! (completely optional)

See ya!


	11. Chapter 11

A/N

Okay, well, we'll get back to the pairings question later. Just wanted to give you guys a heads up that I was thinking about it. (In case you were wondering, my first choice is Ace, second is Zoro, and third is Luffy) Btw, there won't be any yuri or yaoi in this fanfic. At all. Even though I love to read yaoi. None here.

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am associated with One Piece or any Apple devices that I mention or Golum's 'precious' obsession. If I owned One Piece, then Ace wouldn't die. Duh.

Enjoy!

* * *

Anni's POV

Now, with the jester and the afro knight out of the way, the only one left was Wapol, who was currently fighting Luffy. He blasted the ground at Luffy's feet, but Luffy jumped back to avoid the blast. He counterattacked with a flurry of rapid punches, knocking Wapol over.

I jumped in to help and sent a pillar of fire Wapol's way, but he dodged and the attack dissipated in the air. I then shot five smaller fireballs, but only three of them struck him. He aimed a cannon at me and shot, but I dodged and it hit the castle. I leaped at him, driving my fist into the middle of his house shaped stomach. He staggered forward and I landed behind him, sending a punch made of fire into his back to knock him closer to Luffy.

Luffy seemed to understand what I was doing, but he jumped over Wapol and stretched his arm back ten meters, then snapped it back towards Wapol. As Luffy's fist connected with his face, Wapol flew backwards through the doors to the castle, creating a giant snow cloud. Luffy and I ran to the entrance to the castle to continue the fight, but Wapol had disappeared.

"What? Where did he go?" Luffy asked, looking around the giant room. He ran up one of the staircases to the top half of the castle while I searched the lower levels. On the second floor, I decided to try some of the hallways.

"I dunno, why would I?" I replied, melting the snow covering the floors of the hall I was running through. I was too far away to hear his reply, but from ahead from me came a piercing shriek. Surprised, I flattened myself to the wall as Nami came running down the hallway with a skinny Wapol hot on her heels. I watched with an empty mind and a blank expression until they turned the corner.

_Wait, what the hell?_

Realizing that Nami probably needed help, I sprinted off after them. Bursting through the door to the main hall, I looked around frantically for them. I spotted them across the room and started running towards them. Nami ran down the stairs to the ground level where she rounded the column in the middle and made a beeline towards me shouting, "Anni! Save meee...!"

I jumped down and landed in front of Wapol, slamming my fist into his face. He yelled in surprise, crashing into the locked doors on the big column. He stood up with a confident grin on his face.

"Ha! This was your mistake!" he shouted, and paused for effect.

I rolled my eyes. "D'ya mind telling us what it is?" I muttered.

He gestured at the locked door.

"This is the Door of Fear! Inside it are the kingdoms most deadly weapons. I will eat them all and become the ultimate human weapon! You won't have a hope of defeating me!"

He reached down to his empty belt, eyes popping when he realized that the key was gone.

"Ahh! It's gone! No matter, I have a backup plan!" he screeched, darting up the stairs to the top floor.

My eyes were getting sore from all the eye rolling I was doing, so I skipped straight to the smart remark.

"You're not supposed to tell people about your plans if you're trying to surprise or kill them." I remarked smartly.

"Out of curiosity, when did you learn that?" Nami asked, walking towards me.

I laughed. "Ha! When I was little, I loved to play pranks on people, but if I even told one person about it besides Kate and Laura, word would get around and I would get in trouble. After a few incidents like that, I learned to keep all plans secret. Now, because of that, I'm a really good secret keeper." I told Nami, leaving out the killing part of my previous statement.

"So these Kate and Laura people, they're good friends of yours?" she asked, smiling at my story.

The grin dropped from my face.

"Yeah," I answered simply, turning towards the stairs and following Wapol, who had disappeared into one of the rooms on the top floor.

"I'm sorry if that's a sore subject for you. I won't press it," Nami called after me, "But if you want a weapon, I've got the key to the room right here. I thought that it was the key to the treasure vaults."

I looked back at her without stopping. "No, I'm good with just my dagger," I said, pulling it out of my bag, "But if you want to bring me a bazooka or something like that, I'd appreciate it."

She giggled, unlocking the door. "Sure, although under any peaceful circumstances, I wouldn't trust you with one. But I'm sure you're experienced."

"Nope! Never touched one before! I'm sure they're not that hard to use though. Anyways, it's a destructive weapon of destruction, so it'll do something, I'm sure." I yelled back, climbing the stairs to the third floor.

As I glanced back at Nami, she was frozen, with one hand on the doorknob and the other one holding a destructive weapon of destruction for me.

"Hey, Nami! Throw it to me!" I yelled, stopping for a second and leaning over the balcony.

"Are you insane? You'll end up blowing yourself up, and plus, I can't throw that high!" she snapped.

I shrugged in disappointment, continuing my sprint to the top of the building. As I burst through the door that Wapol had gone through, I was met with a surprising sight. Wapol was standing behind a huge cannon, aiming it at Luffy. They both looked at me in surprise as I stared at the cannon in awe.

"How nice of you to join us, Demon's Daughter. You and Mugiwara can both witness each others end. This is Drum Kingdom's ultimate weapon, besides me, of course." Wapol sneered at me.

I was busy checking out the canon because it looked so cool, so I nearly forgot to reply.

_What if... I got a destructive weapon of destruction and destroyed this destructive weapon of destruction? Or... I used this destructive weapon of destruction to destroy all the destructive weapons of destruction in the main hall and they all blew up... What would be the level of destruction?_

I was so immersed in my thoughts that I yelped when Luffy tackled me to the ground to avoid the blast.

"Anni, watch out!" he cried.

I gasped as the breath was knocked out of me. "That doesn't help when you're already squishing the life out of me," I huffed.

However, the blast that we were waiting for didn't come. Luffy slowly stood up and examined the inside of the cannon. From inside, there were high-pitched peeps, similar to the ones from the big doors downstairs. I wobbled to my feet, unbalanced from the sudden movements. Peering inside the cannon, I saw a tiny snowbird nest and a couple tiny chicks. A larger bird fluttered down to land on the top. It peeped at Wapol, before flying into the nest.

"How dare you do such a thing to your king?!" Wapol shouted at it, swinging his arms wildly.

Luffy and I circled around him on either side while he was distracted. I pinned Wapol's arms behind his back and slammed him against the wall. Luffy punched his head and held it there with a furious look on his face.

"We don't care if you live in a palace or a hut. Some things mean more than power and titles. You know why?" Luffy asked.

I decided to answer for him.

"Because we're pirates."

And with that, I released Wapol, who was left at Luffy's mercy. Luffy raised his arms with a cry of, "Gomu Gomu no... Gatling!" and rapid-fire punched Wapol's head and body into the wall. Eventually, the wall broke and Wapol was left teetering on the edge of the castle. He stretched his mouth open wide and transformed his tongue into a cannon.

"Feel the power of the Baku Baku Fruit! Tongue Cannon!" he yelled with his back to the steep drop. I could already see things going badly for him if he fired it.

Luffy stepped up to him unflinchingly and poked the cannon. Wapol teetered backwards, cannon smoking and starting to shake. Suddenly, an idea struck me. One of ultimate destruction.

"Wait, Luffy..." I whispered my plan in his ear.

A small smile crawled across his face as I stepped back, grinning.

"Yosh. Sounds good, as long as he can't come back." he whispered back.

_She should get here right about..._

Right on cue, Nami burst through the door carrying a small pistol and a huge bazooka. She tossed the bazooka to me and loaded the pistol. Looking around the room, she gaped at the hole in the wall and Wapol wobbling to keep himself from falling. She dropped the pistol and it clattered on the stone bricks. I smiled cheerily and waved.

"W-what have you done?!" she asked, stepping backwards, "You did this even without your 'destructive weapon of destruction', didn't you? And you, Luffy," she continued, rounding on him, "Did you do this too? I expected better of you two... actually, no, I didn't. This shouldn't come as a surprise to me." She let her arms fall limply to her sides in defeat.

I walked over to her and picked up her weapon, handing it to her. I grinned in thanks, and then proceeded to go back over to Luffy and continue with out plan. Wapol had finally regained his footing, but he didn't have a chance to back away from our attack. Luffy stretched his arms out backwards while I loaded my bazooka. Finally realizing what we were doing, Wapol put his hands out in front of him and shook them frantically.

"No! I'll do anything! I can make you three nobles! I can give you medals! Money! Anything!" he pleaded desperately.

"Gomu Gomu no..."

Luffy's arms snapped back while I pulled the trigger. Wapol screamed in terror.

"Double Bazooka!"

_**BOOM!**_

With a loud explosion, Wapol was sent flying into the air until we couldn't see him any more.

"Whew! Glad that's over!" Luffy exclaimed, looking out the hole in the wall. He squinted at the ground, then backed up to me and Nami.

"There are more of them." he whispered to us. I sighed and Nami flinched at the news.

I stepped up to the side of the castle, but Luffy grabbed my arm to prevent me from being seen.

"I have an idea. We jump down and kick their asses." I whispered to Luffy. He nodded, but Nami shook her head and backed up into the door.

"I-I'll take the stairs, thank you very much," she stammered, looking slightly fed up with our straightforward plans.

I backed up to get a good run-up, when Nami tapped my shoulder.

"You're not really gonna do it, are you? You're gonna break your leg!" she whispered worriedly.

I smirked at her, holding my bazooka. "Naw, remember, you said that I would blow myself up with the bazooka. I didn't, so I won't break my leg this time! Actually, maybe you should just name everything bad that could possibly happen, and then it won't! I'd be fine forever!" I reasoned.

She shook her head in disappointment. "Your reasoning seems to be slightly off. Are you sure that you didn't escape from some mental facility?" she asked, half-joking.

I paused to scare her with a pondering look on my face, then flashed her my scariest insane pyro grin. "Hmm... that's what that place was, was it?"

She yelped, stumbling away from me.

"Hahaha! Just joking! I'm mostly perfectly sane!" I laughed, then jumped off the side off the castle a few seconds after Luffy with a battle cry. As we fell through the air towards the new opponents, I lit my fists on fire in preparation. A few feet away though, I recognized the person I was attacking and twisted slightly to avoid punching their face in.

_**SPLAT!**_

My head was spinning as I lay in the snow. I had crashed into the person, but as of this moment, I had no idea of where they went. It seemed that after I twisted, they had magically disappeared. I sat up too fast, making my head spin. My hand flew to my head and I swear, the ground moved underneath me.

_Unless..._

I looked down to see an unusual sight. I had four feet. And the two that I didn't recognize had fur boots on. What?

_Oh... oopsie..._

I looked behind me and was met with a frustrated face. By twisting to avoid punching him, I hadn't been in control of my landing, so I had crashed into Zoro and squashed him into the snow. He glared at me sitting on his stomach, then took a deep breath to calm himself down. At least, that's what I assumed.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Anni?! You just come flying out of one of the towers lit on fire, and crash into me! You better have a good explanation for this!" he yelled from the snow.

I laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, no, not really. Luffy said you were an enemy, so we attacked. Then, just as I was about to hit you, I recognized your face and tried to not hit you. I'm sorry...?" I phrased the last statement as a question because of the withering glare he was giving me.

"I don't believe you." he replied.

I laughed. "That's good, because it's too funny for me to be sorry for."

He scowled at me, bonking me on the head. "You're not supposed to say that! You're supposed to say some thing more like," his voice rose a few octaves higher, "'No, Zoro, I really am sorry for being a flying human torch that crashes into people without warning! Please forgive me!'."

I started laughing hysterically. "Never!"

He shoved me off of his stomach and picked me up, dangling me over the edge of the cliff where I continued to laugh like a maniac.

"Ah, Zoro, you're here too!"

We both looked towards the voice; me from my spot of instant death if I was dropped, and Zoro from his spot of nearly dropping me. Luffy walked over to us grinning and chuckling.

"So, you climbed up too?" he asked.

"No, we used the gondola on the side of the mountain," said a female voice from behind me.

"Vivi!" I tried to jump towards her, but only managed to make Zoro lose his balance and nearly send us tumbling to our deaths. Before we fell though, Luffy grabbed both our coats and pulled us back onto safe ground.

"And that's why you should never try and scare me by dangling me off the side of a cliff! You never know what I'm gonna do," I informed Zoro, punching his arm, "Baka marimo," I added.

He hit my head. "Shut up! It was your fault because you tried to kill me but then decided to squish me by falling on me," he yelled.

"Well it's not like it's my fault either! Luffy was the one who said you guys were enemies, and then you were the one who tried to kill me!" I responded, equally as loudly.

We stopped. We looked at each other. Our heads turned simultaneously to Luffy, who was still laughing at us. But before we could do anything, Vivi jumped in front of him, waving her arms frantically.

"Wait, wait! Let's leave the killing and maiming for later! What were you doing, anyways?" she said hurriedly.

I laughed at her phrasing, and answered, "Kicking the king out!"

"For the second time? I guess he must have learned his lesson by now," Vivi said.

"Huh? Second time? What happened the first time?" I asked.

Vivi looked confused, but quickly recovered. "That's right, you weren't there when Dalton told us about it. Apparently, the reason that the villagers weren't friendly to us is because of a pirate named Blackbeard. He came before us and utterly destroyed the island, driving out Wapol, but also killed many of the villagers," she explained.

"He sounds like a piece of bullshit," I said bluntly.

Vivi nodded. "I agree."

"He is," said a deep voice from the side.

I turned to see Dalton walking over to us. He looked beat up, but I had a feeling that it would just waste time if I asked about it. "How did you beat Wapol? And was he the thing that just flew across the sky?" he asked me.

I pointed over to the doorway of the castle where Chopper was hiding. "Yup, he was! Me and Chopper and Luffy beat him up. Chopper did most of it though," I answered, hoping that Luffy wouldn't mind my little white lie.

Dalton's eyes widened as he caught sight of Chopper. He fell to his knees and bowed to him as he yelled, "Thank you. Thanks to you this kingdom will finally be free of that tyrant."

Everyone looked over to where Dalton was bowing to and made some kind of noise of surprise. I noticed Usopp's in particular, as he was making a kind of squeaking noise that could only be heard by bats if it went any higher. Then came the whispers and the screams of surprise.

"What is that?"

"Is it a reindeer?"

"It's a m-monster!"

Chopper turned around and fled from the super-mean-terrible-horrible people who were being totally unfair. In my opinion anyways. Thankfully, Dalton shouted at them to leave Chopper alone and they stopped shouting, except for Usopp.

Luffy bonked Usopp on the head to shut him up and said, "That's our new nakama! You scared him off!"

I didn't hear Usopp's answer because I ran after Chopper. He ran around the back of the castle and then looped around and ran back.

"Oi, Chopper! Wait up!" I shouted.

Without looking back, he shouted, "Shut up, human!"

"Hey, don't you tell me to shut up, you little marshmallow-loving fluffball!" I yelled back, unwilling to actually insult him, but still angry.

Just as Chopper was about to go around the corner of the castle, Luffy appeared and started chasing him as well. Chopper screamed and ran around in a circle before sprinting back the way he came past me. Luffy ran past me before I could reverse directions. I skidded to a stop in the snow, but before I could continue chasing Chopper, a kick shattered the wall behind me and two strong hands grabbed my shoulders. I struggled, but something slammed into my head and knocked me out.

XxX

When I came to, I was strapped to a bed stomach-down. My arms and legs were held down with belts, and there was one around my waist. I was thinking about yelling for help, but the rest of the room came into focus. The room was slightly dark, with no windows, and there was a face right in front of me.

I blinked.

"Hello, Anni-chan."

Sanji was in a similar situation with the belts, except his bed was slightly tilted. I raised one eyebrow at the restraints, and asked, "What... no, why the hell am I belted to a bed? And you, too."

He smiled wryly. "Dr. Kureha caught us before we could escape. She examined my head, but I wouldn't stay still, so she did... this," he motioned to the belts, "And then moved me in here. I think she did a small surgery on your back before I was moved."

At the mention of a surgery, I twitched. I really hated the idea of someone cutting me up without my consent. Actually, I just hated the idea of little precise knives altogether. Then, without a reason, my eyes noticed something. Sanji was shirtless. Immediately, I checked myself, then breathed a sigh of relief. I was still completely clothed, but Dr. Kureha had changed my shirt to a plain white one with thin green designs. Again, I assumed the worst, so I had to ask.

"Sanji?"

"Yeah?" he replied.

"I was... like this when you came in, right?" I asked nervously.

He rolled his eyes. "What are you, stupid? Of course you were."

I relaxed, but then noticed that Sanji had stiffened.

"What, is something wrong?" I asked.

His mouth moved silently.

"What? Tell me!" I demanded.

"I insulted a lady," he whispered almost silently.

I laughed, and I would have patted his head, but I was still stuck.

"Ya know, Sanji, it really will be easier for you if you don't count me as a 'lady'. I mean, sure, still make me those really good chocolate dessert things, but you can insult me like anyone else. It'll be easier for both of us."

Before he could reply, however, the door burst open and I caught a glimpse of the silhouette of an angry doctor. She marched in to the room and grabbed the ends of our respective beds and dragged them down the hall to another room. I silently mouthed, _'Where are we going?'_ to Sanji. He replied with a shrug. He looked like he was still processing my last statement. I wasn't quite sure if he could immediately stop treating me like a lady, but I sure hope he could in the future.

Dr. Kureha kicked open the door in front of us, dragging Sanji in first, then coming back for me. Looking around the room from my limited view, I spotted Nami and Dalton both lying in beds looking pretty tired. Vivi was sitting on a chair next to Nami and there was a crowd of the villagers in the corner, whispering nervously.

"You should be well enough to talk to your nakama," Dr. Kureha said, leaving us in the middle of the room.

The rest of the people in the room looked at us in shock as the witch doctor walked briskly over to Dalton with a slight gleam in her eye.

"Dalton, do you know where the key for the weapons room in the main hall is kept?" she demanded.

Dalton turned his head to see her. "I believe Wapol kept it on his belt. Why? What were you going to do?"

"That's none of your business," she responded, taking a sip of her ever-present sake, "But if that is still true, then we have a problem."

Nami sat up and said, "How about letting us go for free, and allowing us to leave immediately?"

"No," came the blunt reply.

"But I don't feel like I'm about to die," she continued.

"That's not a bargaining chip."

"And... I've got that key that you want," she finished, dangling said key in front of her.

Dr. Kureha sat down on her bed and leaned towards Nami. "That takes guts."

She grabbed the key and stood up, starting to walk towards the door. "Your treatment is paid for, but as a doctor, I cannot let you leave."

Just as she was a few feet away from the door, she stopped and said, "Now, your friends bag is in the room two doors to the right, and so are the rest of your jackets. I don't have any guards, and the two in the beds are completely treated. So don't you dare even think of escaping while I'm outside."

As the door slammed shut, Nami looked at Vivi and asked, "Did she just tell me to get Anni's bag, our coats, untie Anni and Sanji, and sneak out?"

"I think so," Vivi answered.

With that, Vivi ran out to get our stuff, while Nami set about trying to untie us from the beds. She got my right arm free first, so I undid the ones on my waist and right leg, while she did the other ones. Once I was free, we both undid the restraints on Sanji. It went much quicker the second time.

Vivi came back in with our coats and my bag. I was very glad that the doctor had told us where is was, because I would hate to lose it. It was a very important present from my friends, and it was made of fireproof material in black and red, but it didn't look bulky or thick. It also held some important items that I nearly forgot about.

There were the items that I had packed specially, like my dagger and the marshmallows, but I had some special items from the Academy where I learned to control my powers. They were small, flat, light purple crystals that held special abilities from other objects. I had gotten them a few years ago, and they held specific abilities from things like my iPhone. There were two with the texting ability, but they didn't need anything to transmit messages, and there was no distance limit. There was one with the camera ability, and it had no storage limit, and there was also one that held songs. I still had four empty ones that had yet to hold abilities. Really, they were just for fun, but still useful.

Rummaging through my bag, I was glad to see that they were all still there. After saying our goodbyes, the four of us ran down the stairs to the ground floor, where we found Luffy outside shouting for Chopper. We ran out to him, Zoro, and Usopp, who was looking very worn out from all the running that he had obviously been doing.

"Chopper! Come out and be our nakama!" Luffy shouted.

I joined in, shouting, "Yeah, Chopper, come with us!"

Chopper snuck out from behind the castle, but hid part of his face when he noticed that we could see him.

"You're doing it wrong again," Nami pointed out.

He came out fully and yelled, "But I'm a reindeer! And I have a blue nose! You should all hate me! I'm a monster, but I just wanted to thank you for your offer."

I walked over to him and picked him up, throwing him over my shoulder. He wriggled around, trying to break free.

"C'mon, Chopper. We like you too much to leave you behind," I said to him.

There was a considerable lack of struggling at that.

"You... do?"

I grinned and laughed. "Of course! You don't really think that I would give you marshmallows and be really friendly if I didn't like you, do you?"

"I guess not..." he mumbled softly.

"So...? You coming?" Nami asked.

Chopper squirmed around in my arms, eyes tearing up.

Luffy took a deep breath and yelled, "Just come with us!"

Chopper sniffled and tears dripped down his nose. I put him down on the snow, satisfied that he wouldn't run away.

"He should go say his goodbyes to Dr. Kureha and Dalton-san," Vivi suggested.

Chopper nodded and we all decided that he should go alone. Luffy went with Usopp to check out the ropeway, while Vivi and Zoro crept up on me.

"Marshmallows?"

"GYAH!" I shrieked and jumped a good foot and a half into the air, "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!"

Zoro smirked. "Chopper said you had marshmallows."

"And we haven't gotten any yet," Vivi continued, looking absolutely terrifying compared to her normal, sweet self.

"Heh, well..." I tried to get out of giving them any. After all, they were for me and Chopper, and occasionally Luffy.

Zoro grabbed my arms and pinned them behind my back, while Vivi rummaged through my bag looking for the bag of sugary deliciousness. Just as she held them up in triumph, there was a crashing from the hall. Taking advantage of the situation, I wriggled out of Zoro's strong grip and snatched back my candy.

"Hey!" Zoro and Vivi cried indignantly as I flashed them a triumphant grin.

I hugged my candy and said, "My precious... How could they do this to us, precious? We won't let them do it again. Precious belongs to us alone."

"What the hell is-"

Zoro was cut off by Chopper in his running transformation sprinting out from the open doors of the castle. He was dragging a sleigh behind him and as he passed us, he yelled, "Everyone, get in!"

I jumped in one of the back seats with Usopp. Nami and Vivi got in the front, while Zoro and Sanji leaped into the middle seats. Luffy stretched his arms out and grabbed onto the back of the sleigh, but couldn't quite get in. The sleigh was slightly smaller than the number of people that wanted to fit in. Chopper started to run down the top of the ropeway, and the sleigh tipped dangerously to the left. We all leaned to the right, arms waving all over the place.

"Please keep all limbs inside the dangerous sleigh. This is not a ride, but feel free to have fun," I announced jokingly.

Everyone laughed at that, and Usopp and I pulled Luffy back into the sled. When we got onto the ground, we were all screaming and laughing.

"Woohoo! Let's do it again!"

"I'm gonna die... We're on the ground, but I'm gonna die..."

"Nooo! My precious! How dare you steal my precious?!"

"Hey, Vivi, want a marshmallow?"

"Haha! You got them!"

"Are those Anni-chwan's, you marimo?"

"I'll have one too, please."

"Where is your ship? I don't know where I'm going!"

As we entered the forest, Chopper slowed down to a halt, and so did our hysterics. We tried to figure out which way our ship was, but we couldn't even find the mountains because they were obscured by the trees. Eventually, we got to a clear, raised patch of ground. We all looked towards the mountains to get our bearings, when,

_**BOOM!**_

A firework shot up from the top of the mountains, the castle specifically. Then, an explosion of pink appeared in the clouds. Soft pink snowflakes started floating down from the sky, and I heard a sniffle from behind me. I looked back to see Chopper with tears dripping down his nose.

"Chopper, it's very beautiful, ne?" I asked gently.

He nodded. "It's what Dr. Hiluluk was researching. He finally succeeded, and I'm so happy."

The pink slowly spread to the other clouds, creating a growing tree shape with the mountains as the trunk. It was amazingly beautiful, and I never would have expected something like it. The others were also voicing their admiration of the brilliant sakura-coloured snow.

Eventually, a few minutes of admiring later, we got our bearings and headed off in the direction of our ship. As we approached the river, our ship was magically not frozen in the river. However...

"Carue! What are you doing frozen in the river?!" exclaimed Vivi.

I ran up to the poor bird and shot flames around him to melt the ice. As soon as he was free, Carue squawked and ran behind Vivi.

She giggled and translated, "Carue is still scared of you, Anni. He says that you seem more like a," Carue chirped at Vivi, "...sadistic dragon than a human. At least, that's the closest translation."

I fell over into the snow.

_Sadistic dragon..._

Suddenly, I had an urge to taste the sakura snow. Opening my mouth, I stuck out my tongue to catch the snowflakes. Hmm... It didn't taste unusual, but there was a slight sweetness to it. Raising my head slightly, I noticed that most of them had gone back onto the boat, save for Sanji, who was holding out a huge pan to catch the snowflakes.

I got to my feet and jumped onto the boat, then flopped down onto my chair. My back twinged at the sudden contact and I fell off the chair, arching my back in pain. The wound must still have been slightly opened, so I would have to be very careful with it.

My thoughts were cut off when I noticed Luffy and Zoro coming out of the kitchen with a few sake bottles. I bounced down the stairs cheering happily. I grabbed one out of Zoro's hands and sat down in the middle of the deck to drink it. He growled and tried to grab it back, but I danced out of his reach.

My attention then turned to Luffy, who had convinced Chopper to try the nose-chopsticks. Everyone was laughing at the tiny reindeer as he danced around with those long chopsticks sticking out of his nose.

From behind me, a black-sleeved hand offered me a small glass. It had the pink snow in it, but it was a slightly darker colour.

"Thank you. What's in it?" I asked Sanji.

He smiled, placing it down on the deck in front of me. "It has the sakura snow, some sugar, and raspberry syrup. Normally, I would have used more ingredients, but my time was limited."

I took a sip and my eyes widened. "It's amazing! I've never tasted a drink this good!"

Luffy's hand stretched across our little circle to try and take the drink. I yanked it out of his grasp and chugged the contents to avoid them being taken by somebody else.

"Um, Anni-chwan, if you do that, then you'll get-"

"Argh! Brain Freeze!" I shouted, holding my nose and head.

My nakama laughed at my pain, but Zoro suggested, "If you have fire powers, then can't you just heat up your head from the inside?"

I closed my eyes and tried, but the only thing that happened was an outburst of laughter from the rest of them.

"Anni..." Chopper was nearly choking from laughter.

I opened my eyes, and it was slightly brighter than I expected. I looked down, and burst out laughing. Flames were coming out my nose, and combined with my concentrating expression, I probably looked more hilarious than I could imagine. Carue was quaking behind Vivi at my dragon-like appearance, and Chopper kept dancing with his nose-chopsticks.

I tried to take a sip of my sake, but it caught on fire and I jumped back from the flaming bottle. This caused me to laugh harder, and the flames raged even higher. Usopp ran inside to get a bucket, and then threw it on me to put me out.

By this time we were all choking on various things, such as sake, slushie, and the air itself from all the laughter. I collapsed in a heap of laughter on the deck, as did Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp. Nami, Vivi and Carue were laughing/giggling/chirping politely (or as politely as you can be as a pirate) and Zoro and Sanji were all-out laughing.

_Ah, it's so great to have nakama._

* * *

A/N

Yes! Long chapter for you guys! I feel so proud of myself for this! I mean, it's a good six pages longer than normal! If you were wondering, some things that happen to Anni or any of the characters happen because of my experiences, or just my random whim, like the brain freeze. Earlier today I got a frozen lemonade slushie thing, and my nose hurt _so_ bad, but then I thought, _'What if I was breathing really hard and fire came out my nose?'_ and, voila, the idea was born! Btw, do you think that Golum talks to his split personality, or the ring itself, and addresses it as 'we'?

Anyways, did I do good? I'd love some feedback from you guys, it really does help and inspire me to do these things. I'll give you... hmm... I'll give you a precious! _No, we mustn't! Precious is ours! _But they've been so good!_ No! Never! _We have to! _We won't! _We will! _Nooo..._

Bonus! Try to guess who said what at the end of the sleigh ride!

See ya!


	12. Chapter 12

A/N

Yo. I apologize in advance if I offend anyone in this chapter, be it your religion or your own god-complex (we all know you're out there... *cough* _Light_ *cough*). I'm anglican (if you care), but I rarely get offended (in any way, really) so I hope you can understand that this is all in humor. This is just something random that I came up with while talking to my friend. Btw, _italics_ will be used for both thoughts and dreams, 'kay?

Disclaimer: Again, the only thing I own is Anni, my take on the events, and... nothing else really. Damn.

To secretdewdrop: No, I don't think that it will diverge from canon in any major ways, except _maybe_ in the Marineford battle and the timeskip.

* * *

Enjoy!

Anni's POV

"What?!"

"That jackass is a hero?!"

Vivi smiled sadly. "Unfortunately, yes. He has been acting the part of the hero of the land. He has been killing the pirates that threaten the people, but it's all for appearances. He really plans to take over Arabasta."

I looked up from my place lounging on the railing on the side of the ship. "Well, can't your dad just kick him out? It's not like he's _that_ important, is he?"

"Actually, Crocodile is one of the Shichibukai. He is one of seven amazingly strong pirates that are paid by the World Government. They are allied with the Marines and they kill other pirates," Vivi explained to me.

I crossed my arms and rested my chin on them. "I don't like them. I don't like the marines either, and the World Government sounds like a controlling organization that doesn't think about anyone else," I huffed.

Luffy laughed. "So all we need to do is kick his butt, right?"

Vivi smiled sadly. "Unfortunately, he is still the head of Baroque Works. There are nine agents under Crocodile that are very powerful. They are each paired with an equally dangerous partner, except for Mr. 2, hence the odd number. Crocodile's alias is Mr. 0, indicating that he is more powerful than the rest of them. His partner, Miss All Sunday, is nearly as dangerous as he is. We will probably have to fight most, if not all of them."

Zoro opened his eyes and blinked from his place on the deck and leaning against the baluster. "Doesn't sound so hard."

I kicked his head because it was next to my feet. "You weren't listening, were you?"

"I can listen perfectly fine when I'm asleep!" he exclaimed, "And don't kick me!"

"Hey, you two! Listen to Vivi!" Nami interrupted our potential argument.

Vivi giggled. "No, it's fine. That's about all we need to know. Other than that, we just need to prepare mentally. Oh, and get a supply of food for the journey across the desert."

"Waitwaitwait. Journey across the desert?!" Usopp asked in a squeaky voice.

Vivi nodded. "Yes, that's right. We have to travel across the desert to get to the capital."

Usopp slumped down onto the deck, holding his head. "Well, I can't go. I've got the I-can't-travel-across-the-desert-or-else-I'll-die-of-heatstroke disease. It really is terrible. And don't even get me started on my allergy to sand..." he muttered, trailing off.

I leaped up to stand on the baluster. "Yes! I've never seen a desert before! And I don't have to worry about the heat!"

"Are you ever affected by the temperature, Anni-chan?" Sanji asked me, still trying to get his head around the 'Anni ≠ lady' thing.

I scratched the back of my head in thought, and answered, "Nope! I don't think so at least. I've never been in a situation where I'm way too hot or way too cold. I mean, sure, I get chilly or sweaty, but other than that, I don't think that I'm affected by heat or the cold to any extremes. Much."

Sanji shook his head in the universal motion for 'I give up' and went inside to start our dinner. He was planning something elaborate, so he had to get an early start on it. Luffy and Usopp started fishing with Carue, and Nami and Vivi struck up a girly conversation that I wanted no part in. Zoro went back to sleep, and I was officially bored.

I contemplated bugging Zoro, or going to see what Sanji was doing, but concluded that they would just be irritated with me. Luffy and Usopp were whispering about using Carue as bait for sharks and I wanted no part in Vivi's wrath. Nami and Vivi's conversation was hushed and there were occasional giggles, so I decided nope! Chopper was also inside, making some kind of medicine for my back wound. I didn't feel like bugging the poor fluffball if he was doing something important.

XxX

Ten minutes of lying on the deck later, I realized that no one was on watch. I climbed up the ladder to the top, where I looked around quickly with my improved spyglass. Nothing.

_Argh! I'm so bored! What do normal people do in these kind of hard times?_

I hummed 'Crazy Rainbow' as I sat thinking. I moved around, from the bottom of the crow's nest, to the top of the mast (uncomfortable), to the side of the crow's nest, and eventually to the wooden bar that held up the mast (called the yard arm, apparently). I sat cross legged there for a while with my chin on my hands, until I got used to the swaying of the boat.

_Hmm... I feel like an eagle._

"Anni-chwan! Be careful, or you'll fall!" Sanji shouted from the door.

I turned my head around (I was facing the front of the boat) and said in a deep voice, "Eagle-god doesn't fall."

If I was looking, I swear, a virtual question mark would have appeared over Sanji's head. He seemed to struggle with a reply, but eventually gave up and went back inside. I smirked in triumph, Eagle-gods don't smile, and turned back to the front.

A few minutes later, the ship hit a particularly big wave, and the spyglass fell from its perch onto, you guessed it, Zoro's head.

"Dammit, Anni! Stop with dropping hard objects on my head!" he yelled, rubbing his head.

I turned my head slowly, and said in the same voice, "Eagle-god doesn't apologize. Or drop things. Eagle-god does whatever Eagle-god wants to do. Inferior humans can't influence Eagle-god."

"What the hell, Anni? I swear, you have multiple split personalities," he scowled.

"Eagle-god has only one personality. Eagle-god doesn't need more than one," I monotoned.

He stood up and shook Luffy and Usopp, who were nearly asleep.

"Huh?" Luffy muttered.

"Do you want something Zoro?" Usopp asked.

Zoro scowled in my direction. "Yeah, I want you two figure out what the hell goes on in her head," he said.

Luffy and Usopp both shook their hands dismissively.

"Nope. Impossible."

"Well then just try!" Zoro tried again.

"Fine, but don't blame us when it doesn't work," Usopp said, walking to the front of the Merry to face me.

"Ahem, Anni?" he asked.

I shifted my gaze from the horizon to him and said, "Eagle-god doesn't respond to puny mortal names like Anni. Although, it is the best name for a mortal. Much better than the others."

"Hmm... this looks like a task that is almost too difficult for the great Captain Usopp-sama," he said, ducking past Zoro and through the door, "So I will have to think about it for a while."

Zoro then shoved Luffy towards me who was looking down on them with an unamused look. "You try. Maybe since you're both idiots you'll be able to translate for me."

"Eagle-god objects to being called an idiot by an inferior being."

"Argh! Do it fast!"

Luffy looked up at me and blinked. "Anni, are you really an eagle-god?"

"Eagle-god does not comprehend the thought process of lower beings. Eagle-god is superior in every way possible."

"Including the idiocy?" Zoro muttered to himself.

Luffy's eyes sparkled. "Aw, cool! I wish I was one too! Then I would fly around and eat meat and beat up anyone I wanted and eat more meat and..." he continued to ramble about his life as an eagle as Zoro facepalmed at his stupidity.

From behind me I heard a door open and Nami's voice say, "Anni, Zoro, Luffy! Come in for dinner."

Glancing at the sky, I noticed that the sun was still moderately high in the sky, but low enough to be time to eat. Smirking, I decided to see how far I could push my joke. Without turning around to see her reaction, I addressed Nami, "Eagle-god demands her food outside."

Silence.

Then, "Oh, so this is what Usopp came in to avoid."

Dropping my act, I flopped backwards to hang off the bar by my knees. I swung back and forth and sighed loudly.

"Ahhhh... I'm soooo bored!" I groaned, swinging upside down.

Nami laughed. "You're so funny, Anni."

"Funny?! No, she's bipolar! With split personalities! Not funny!" Zoro exploded, throwing his hands in the air.

I laughed, flipping down onto the deck. I patted his shoulder as he glared at me. "It's okay, I was just bored," I said, skipping inside, "But now we can go eat, so I won't be bored anymore."

_Hmm... I do switch moods fast. Weird. Oh well._

I burst through the door shouting, "Sanjiiiiii! What's for dinner?"

Vivi, Usopp, Chopper and Sanji jumped in surprise at my shout. Chopper ducked under the table to get away from the noise, and Vivi breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was just me. Usopp flinched and clung onto Sanji's arm, but the latter shook him off.

"Yes, Anni-chwan? Oh, yes, dinner," he said distractedly, trying to pry off a clingy Usopp, "Today it is Chateaubriand, and I was about to light it, but Vivi said that we should wait for everyone."

Vivi nodded in agreement. "It looks delicious. Sanji really outdid himself with this one."

Crossing the room, I sat down in one of the chairs next to Sanji and stared at the steaming roast.

"Yummmm..." I mumbled, patting my hungry stomach.

Zoro and Luffy burst through the door in front of Nami, who bonked them on the head for no particular reason. Muttering curses, the green-haired swordsman slid into the chair next to me and promptly rested his head on the table. Sanji then reached over me to smack his head, but I beat him to it.

"Zoro! Wake up! We're gonna start eating after we light the roast!" I said, lightly smacking the back of his sleeping head.

He moved slightly. "Tch."

I turned back to the dinner and a thought struck me.

"Hey, Sanji, can I light it? Pleeeeeease Sanji?" I asked innocently.

He tilted his head, considering my request. "Sure, that seems okay."

He was about to hand me the matches when I lit my finger on fire and stretched it out towards the brandy-covered roast. It lit with a _fwoosh _and flames burst to life all over it. Everyone's eyes were glued to the dancing flames. I snickered, and caused the fire to blaze up like a bonfire, nearly hitting the roof.

"No, wait! Anni, stop or the meat will get burnt!" Sanji shouted, panicking.

I was smiling and laughing, but at those few words, I made the flames die down. I examined the outside of the meat and it only seemed a shade darker than when it had started.

"Sorry, Sanji," I said apologetically, bowing my head. I hadn't intended to burn it, only do something exciting.

He nodded in acceptance and got up to slice the meat in the kitchen. Looking around at my nakama's faces, I saw an array of emotions. Luffy's eyes were sparkling, Usopp's were wide with fear, and Nami's were full of surprise and disapproval. Vivi seemed to shocked to do anything, as was Carue. Zoro's eyebrows were raised at the situation, but he didn't seem too surprised. Chopper was nowhere to be seen. I scooted my chair back and peered under the table. The poor reindeer was clinging onto a table leg and shaking like a leaf in the wind.

"Aw, Chopper, did I scare you?" I asked softly, reaching out to pick him up, then lifting him onto my lap. He nodded almost imperceptibly, so I hugged him tightly and set him down on his seat next to Sanji's empty one.

A minute of waiting later, Sanji brought in the sliced roast covered in sauce. We all grabbed for the food (some certain rubber arms took a lot more than the rest of us) and all proceeded to stuff our faces with the exception of Nami, Vivi, and Sanji who ate like normal human beings.

Dinner proceeded as usual, chaotically, until Sanji brought out a huge chocolate cake for dessert. I took a piece that was almost the size of my head, and proceeded to gobble it down in a matter of seconds. A few people left, but I asked for a second helping because it was so good. After that though, my stomach was nearly bursting so I decided to head for bed early.

After changing into my pyjamas and brushing my teeth, I collapsed on the comfy mattress on the floor of the girls room that I called my bed. I was soon asleep before anyone else came into the room.

XxX

_Gah, it's kinda cold._

I woke up in the middle of the night to a breeze blowing through the window and under my blanket. Stumbling to my feet, I wobbled over to the window, avoiding the other two sleeping figures, and shut it tightly. As I brought my arm down, however, a flash of pain shot through my back. I winced and lay down on my mattress again, ignoring it.

I couldn't get comfortable. I tried laying on both sides, my back, and my front. Eventually, I found a slightly more comfortable position on my side. I arched my back involuntarily to avoid the pain, even though I knew that it would have bad long term affects. I slid back to sleep with a feeling of uncertainty.

XxX

_The white fluffy paw shot out at me as I watched from a different perspective. I saw the blood flow out of the wound on my back and felt the pain of the slash. It happened again and again, but each time I tried to bend out of the way, arching my back to try to dodge the constant attacks. The snow turned red, and I watched myself lay in the ruby-coloured snow, mauled, dying, bleeding... unable to protect anyone._

My eyes shot open and I gasped softly. I reached behind me to feel my back just to make sure that it was still intact. It was fine, but the muscles were taut and arched, nearly hyper-extending my back. The nerves tingled in protest, but it was only my involuntary reaction to the memories. I wasn't scared or anything, but I couldn't help it.

I touched my face, and was surprised to feel wetness. I was crying? I don't do that. That's totally un-Anni-like. I wiped away the tears quickly and shut my eyes tightly. I focused on happy moments with my nakama. Feeding Chopper and Luffy marshmallows. Arguing with Zoro. Talking with Nami and Vivi. Scaring Usopp and Carue. Eating with Sanji. Smiles, laughter, happiness.

XxX

In the morning, I woke up in the same uncomfortable position (this time with my blanket bunched up behind me), but thankfully Nami and Vivi were early risers, so I didn't have to explain anything to them. I got dressed and went to see Chopper. He examined my back and tutted.

"You need to fix this problem. If you don't, then you will end up injuring yourself and possibly be incapable of fighting," he said seriously.

I pouted like a little kid. "But it's not me! It's my body's reaction to the memory of the rabbit-back-wound-thing!" I protested.

He shook his head. "No, it's not something that you can consciously control, but you need to find a comfortable sleeping position where your subconscious thinks that you're safe."

I was about to reply when a shout shook the entire ship.

"LUFFY! DID YOU EAT ALL THE FOOD?!"

I heard a muffled reply that went something like, "No, Usopp helped!" followed with vehement protests. I ran outside to watch the fight between the cook and the gluttonous captain. Sanji was towering over Luffy, and Luffy was backed against the stairs frantically looking for an escape route.

Vivi quickly stepped in between them, saying, "It's alright Sanji. We're almost at Arabasta, so I'm sure that we can survive by fishing for the next few days."

Sanji backed down and Luffy quickly ran to grab the fishing rod. "I suppose you're right, Vivi-chan. I'm sure that we can make it work," he said.

I sighed. This was going to be a long few days. I walked to the front and spotted a cloud of fog up ahead. Wait, no, not quite. Looking closer, it seemed like it was rising out of the sea.

"Nami, there's a bunch of steam rising out of the sea. What should we do?" I called.

"It's okay, just an underwater volcano. It's perfectly safe to go through," She called back.

Pumping a fist in the air, Luffy yelled, "Yosha! Straight through the steam!"

"Oi, you! Back to fishing!"

* * *

A/N

Cliffhanger? Sorry for the short-ish chapter. To me, Chopper seems like a cross between a stuffie and a little brother. Aww, so cute! Man, I gave up chocolate for Lent and I'm so happy that Easter's coming! Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate! Also, it's a real mental thing to do weird stuff relating to an injury after you get injured. Me, was playing a game where you had to guess the song, but I didn't know the name immediately and I tripped and cut myself really deeply. Now, whenever I hear a song on the radio, I think of the name or I'll start hyperventilating. Just so ya know that it's a real thing.

Do you guys want an Easter chapter? Not quite sure what I'll do, but I'll think of something good if you guys want one. I think that it'll be fun to write, and it'll definitely include lots of fighting! I don't think I'll include future characters in the holiday chapters, but if you guys are desperate, I'll consider it.

See ya!


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Again, I don't own One Piece, Nami is not the president of Starbucks, and Sanji and Zoro aren't Superman and Batman. Duh.

A/N

Hey again! I didn't really like the last chapter... and I was kinda too distracted with the family bloodbath (known as an Easter egg hunt to normal families) to write an Easter chapter. Forgive me please! And as of now I will try to address questions or plans from your reviews.

Yes, breathing fire is a very useful skill. One that I wish I had, in fact. :) And yes, her back problem will get fixed soon (not immediately). The plot won't be that different from canon, it'll just be like if Anni was a character in the manga/anime. As for the Ace pairing, well, this isn't a romance fanfic, but I think I might do a _little_ something with it.

-Emphasis on the word 'little' cuz most of you didn't come for romance. If you did, I can't help you.

Enjoy!

* * *

Anni's POV

"Hm? Steam?" Usopp said, walking to the front of the boat.

I nodded, pointing to the cloud in front of the boat. "Yeah, see? There's a big cloud of it out there."

Luffy bounded up behind me, all thoughts of fishing gone. "I wanna see too! Wow, that's cool! Are you sure that we won't die from it though, Nami?"

"No, it's an underwater volcano. It won't cause us any harm, but in a few thousand years there will be a new island here," she said from the balcony.

"Cool," Luffy replied, jumping up to sit on the goat head.

Chopper ran up behind us and jumped up onto the railing, grabbing onto Usopp for balance. He gasped in awe as he saw the big cloud of steam rising out of the sea. "It's so big! Will we see many things like this on the Grand Line?"

"Well, judging from what we've seen already, I bet we will. I mean, we've already seen a giant whale, islands full of enemies, fighting giants on an island of dinos, ice islands, and other strange things," Zoro said from the side where he had lay down on the deck.

"What?!" Chopper and I yelled in unison, "You've seen a giant whale?"

Luffy laughed. "Yeah, his name was Laboon and he kept hitting his head against the Red Line. Apparently he was waiting for a pirate crew, but they never came back," he explained.

"Aw..."

"Poor whale..."

"Well Luffy attacked him and for some reason that helped stop his suicidal actions," Zoro snorted, "And now the whale is waiting for us to come back so that he can beat Luffy up."

I blinked. "Well then..."

"Okay..." Chopper continued.

The ship began to slide into the steam cloud as we looked around in wonder. It was like being inside a cloud, except that I had always imagined it warmer. The steam, despite the fact that it was from a volcano, was cold and clung to me. As did a certain cook when I mentioned this fact. Needless to say, though, he let go the moment I sneakily replaced myself with Zoro. I hid in Nami's mikan grove as I listened to the furious shouts.

"What the fuck, shit-cook?"

"Ah! Zoro?! What are you doing?"

"That's what I should be asking you! You _hugged_ me!"

"No I didn't! I was merely warming up Anni-chan!"

"Well maybe you should check who you cling onto before you do it!"

"It's not my fault! It's this shitty fog!"

"I don't care! And didn't Anni say that she doesn't want you to treat her like a lady?"

"...Maybe."

"Argh! You're such an idiot!"

"At least I'm not a social recluse with no sense of direction!"

"At least I'm not a flirty cook with no love life!"

"You don't have a love life either, unless you're counting those swords!"

"Well that's good, because I don't care about that stuff!"

"Yeah, good for you. You couldn't get a girlfriend if you tried, good-for-nothing marimo," muttered Sanji.

"Eh? What was that, you idiotic perverted cook?!" Zoro yelled furiously.

I could hear growling and the sound of shoes clashing against metal. Wondering if I should break up the fight before they broke something due to the lack of vision, I stood up and made my way to the lower deck where they were fighting, but before I could, a thumping sound interrupted.

"Huh?"

"Who's that? Is that your head, marimo?"

"Ouch..." came Luffy's voice from the middle of the fight.

I heard the tap of a foot on the deck and the swish of katana being sheathed. Judging from the thud and the 'ow' from Luffy, he had evidently walked straight through the fight and been attacked from both sides. I rushed into the fog and wandered around for a few seconds looking for the three idiots.

Finally, after waving my arms around like a zombie, my arm connected with the back of a head. I moved my hands around, trying to find and identify the face. Hmm, long-ish hair, so not Zoro. The face didn't have hair falling over it, so it wasn't Sanji. By process of elimination, it was Luffy, but I had to check. Yup, tiny scar under the eye. Definitely Luffy.

"Huh? Who's that? Ow! My eye!" he yelped as I accidentally poked him.

"Ah! Sorry, Luffy! I didn't mean to!" I apologized, patting his hair.

A hand connected with the side of my head, whacking my ear.

"Is that you, Anni?" Luffy's voice asked from of the fog in front of me.

"Yeah, but don't hit me!" I replied, rubbing my head with my free hand.

Another hand hit me, but this time it hit my nose.

"Ow! Who did that?!" I yelled in the direction of the hand's owner.

"Me," came Zoro's voice from the end of the arm.

"Gah! Stop hitting me!" I yelled as a third arm whacked my forehead.

"Oh, Anni-chan, I apologize!" Sanji's voice said through the fog.

Brushing off all the hands from my face, I yelled, "Look, why don't you three go fishing or something? You should be able to catch something, seeing as you don't pay attention while you do it normally."

Three sets of shoes trudged off obediently... in my imagination. In reality, they went off in different directions, the boots to the railing, the shoes to the kitchen, and the sandals to the side where the fishing rods were left on the deck. Another set of shoes tapped across the deck to join the sandals, who were fishing.

I walked to the front of the ship, using the baluster to guide my way. Closing my eyes, I listened to the sounds drifting through the fog. Swishing and crashing of the waves, soft shouts from another boat that was in the same predicament as us. Listening closer, it sounded more like the people were shouting for someone. It got closer and closer, but just as I was about to shout a warning, the sounds started to drift away.

Dismissing it, I groped around blindly for my chair. Finding it, I collapsed in it, sighing. My back tightened at the sudden contact, but it didn't seize up like last time. Maybe it was getting better? I shifted around, but a spike of pain shot through my lower back and I hissed. Nope, not better. I really need to find a way to not arch my back when I sleep.

As I pondered my problem, the steam started to clear up. At first, I could see my hand at the end of my arm, then I could see the goat head, and eventually I could see the entire ship. A scream resounded through the air, piercing through my head. I looked around frantically for the origin of the scream. A second one joined it, just as high and piercing.

I found the screamer. It was Usopp. The second screamer was Nami, and they were both looking at the end of Luffy's fishing rod, while he was staring at it in horror. Hanging onto the end of the fishing rod was a... what, exactly? It was a man with a long coat and a swan head with wings on the back. He had a headband with pom poms on it and round pants, or were they shorts? He had way too much makeup on. Way, way, _way_ too much makeup.

"Oh dear. I seem to have been fished," he said, before sliding off and falling into the ocean.

As he hit the water, Luffy cast out the fishing rod again and caught him, pulling him back up onto the deck. The entire crew made their way to where Luffy had dropped him.

He knelt on the deck and said, "Thank you. You have saved my life and I am forever in your debt."

"So you can't swim?" Zoro asked, yawning.

"No, I cannot. I will show you my abilities, but be warned, this isn't something I would do for everyone."

I held up both hands. "Wait. First, I need to clarify something. Are you a guy, or a girl?"

He laughed. "I began as a man, but then I became an Okama and followed the Okama Way!"

"Ah."

He reached out towards Luffy and slammed his hand into his face. Luffy went crashing down to the deck and we all readied our weapons (or in my case, I lit my hands on fire) to fight him. Before we attacked, however, he suddenly became an exact copy of Luffy, height, structure, face, everything.

"Wait, wait! This is my performance!" he cried in Luffy's voice.

"What the fuck did you just do?!" Zoro and I yelled in unison.

"This is the power of the Mane Mane Fruit! I can copy any face I touch, see?" He went down the line, lightly touching the faces of Usopp, Chopper, Nami, and Zoro. When he got to me however, I ducked behind Zoro and hid from him.

"Come on, it's just for the show," he said, reaching over a very uncomfortable looking Zoro.

"Nooooo!" I yelled, jumping up onto the balcony and running into Vivi, who was also looking slightly creeped out. The Okama continued to chase me around the ship until I ran into the kitchen and leaned against the door to block it. After a few seconds, he gave up and went to continue the show.

"Um, Anni-chwan? Can I help you?"

I looked around from the door. Sanji was standing in front of the stove with a bowl in one hand and a wooden spoon in the other, staring at me with a confused look. I slid down to the floor grinning like a maniac and panting.

"I'm not entirely sure about that myself. Personally, I'm pretty sure I need help, but in this situation I don't think that you can help," I said, laughing inwardly.

He put down the cooking utensils and walked over to me, sitting down next to me on the floor. "So... what happened?" he asked.

I launched into the story of Luffy catching the Okama on the fishing line and how he could replicate any face he touched. As I finished up, Sanji looked just as confused and freaked out as I felt.

"O-kay..." he said in response after I finished the story.

I nodded. "Yeah, it was freaky. And you know what's even worse?" I asked, "That he's still on this ship and that no one kicked him off yet!" I said, frustrated at my idiot crew for not seeing that the guy was creepy.

Sanji stood up and opened the door, but I quickly grabbed his leg and dragged him back in.

"No, Sanji! Don't go out there!" I cried melodramatically, hanging onto his leg, "He'll get you!"

"Anni-chan, please let go," he said politely but frustrated.

"No! You haven't seen what he's like!" I yelled, clinging tighter.

He shook his leg and tried to pry me off. "Anni-chan... please," he continued to try.

I grinned and shook my head (I was having fun annoying him even though I didn't actually want Sanji to meet this guy).

He broke. Sanji finally broke and yelled at me. "Dammit, Anni-chwan! Please let go of me! I'll make you a chocolate cake or anything! Just let me go!"

I let go of his leg and grinned, but scooted to block the door. "Really? Even those really good ones with the sticky icing and the chocolate ice cream and the strawberries?"

"Yes," he sighed, calming down.

"Alright. As long as he doesn't copy your face, 'kay?" I said.

"Alright," he sighed again.

I peeked around the side of the door to make sure the coast was clear. I wasn't surprised by what I saw. Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp were dancing around and chatting with the strange Okama while Nami looked really pissed off for some reason. It didn't seem too dangerous, so I didn't think that it would be too bad if Sanji met him.

I snuck out and hid behind Vivi, who was watching from the balcony.

"Anni, what are you doing?" she asked, turning around to face me.

I grabbed her shoulders and quickly spun her around. "Act natural. I'm a ninja," I whispered.

"I really don't know what to expect from you anymore, Anni. You're too random," she whispered back.

"Hey, is that your ship?" Nami called to the Okama.

He jumped up on the baluster and stood there dramatically. "Don't forget, my friends, that friendship is never determined by the amount of time spent together," he said with tears in his eyes.

"We won't forget you!" Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper yelled together.

The Okama jumped onto his approaching ship and yelled to his crew, "Let's go, men!"

"Yes sir, Mr. Two, Bon Clay-sama!" his crew shouted and started to direct the ship away.

A silence fell over the Merry.

"Mr. Two..."

"Bon Clay..."

The realization finally sunk in and the crew went into panic mode.

"That was him?!" Vivi screamed with her hand over her mouth.

"Wait, Vivi, you didn't know what he looked like?!" I asked.

"No, I only heard a rumor that he wore lots of makeup like a girl and wore a coat with 'Okama Way' on the back," she cried.

"Are you blind?" we said together.

"Never mind that, we have a bigger problem. When he was doing those face copies, one of them was my father's. If he could pass himself off as the king, he could do terrible things," Vivi said, slumping down to her knees.

I put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll think of something," I said comfortingly.

"This was a lucky encounter," Zoro said, stepping forward.

"What do you mean?" Luffy asked.

"I mean that now we can plan a strategy. I have an idea for it," Zoro replied, walking into the storage room. He came out with a white sheet that he started to rip. "And don't worry, this is one of the shitty spare pillowcases that we got at one of those cheap stores."

The whole crew gathered on the deck in a circle. Zoro handed us each a strip of fabric, but before we could tie them onto our arms, he said, "Wait, we should have a double mark. That way they won't know about the hidden one because there would be no reason to try and copy us twice."

"That's pretty smart," Sanji admitted reluctantly.

Nami ran into the storage room and came out with a pot of black paint and a paintbrush. "Will this work? It says that it lasts for... hmm..." she squinted at the label, "Up to five weeks."

"Yeah, that should work," Zoro said as Nami handed it to him. He went around the circle painting an 'x' on our left arms, or wings in Carue's case. After they were dry, we each tied the fabric around the mark so that it was invisible to everyone else.

"Yosha! Sanji, food!" Luffy said, spinning around.

Sanji scowled. "Maybe I could make you food if we had any. There's none left thanks to your skinny rubber stomach demanding food every five minutes and Anni-chan's and Zoro's insane appetites."

"Hmm... Then Sanji, what was that you were making earlier?" I asked, referring to when I was hiding in the kitchen.

"Oh, that was dinner," he replied bluntly.

"But it was so small..." I whined, waving my arms dramatically.

"Maybe you shouldn't have eaten so much," he said dismissively, walking towards the kitchen.

"Noooooo..." Luffy and I cried, collapsing on each other.

BONK!

"Oww..."

"Don't complain if it was your fault in the first place!"

"We're sorry, Nami!"

XxX

Dinner was a sad meal of vegetables and bread. We barely even had any sake left, and it was completely gone by the time Zoro and I had found it. After dinner, no one spoke a word, but Luffy's growling stomach spoke for us all.

XxX

**Warning, slightly dark, so if you have an overactive imagination and/or are scared easily, just skim this part.**

At night, I had another nightmare, but this time was even worse than the last one.

_The dark, unfeeling monsters that took the form of the Lapahn surrounded me, slashing at my back with their blunt claws. I was knocked around until I couldn't move anymore. I fell to my knees, and through the crowd of stomping feet I saw a twitching hand. It grasped at the snow and a head was raised behind it. Sanji's face stared at me, but his normally blue eyes were black and soulless._

"_Help... me... Anni-chan..." he whispered as he was trampled by the feet. I reached out, but the paws kept clawing into my back, sending waves of pain through me. I cried out to him as the Lapahn monsters crushed him into the snow, turning him into a pile of bloody meat. I screamed for them to stop, but it was hopeless._

"_Anni... help..." I spun around on my knees to see Zoro in the same situation. His black eyes stared into mine as he was stamped on by the vicious feet. Redness leaked through the snow to me, joining Sanji's blood. I looked down at my hands, but it didn't stop. It stained my hands as I shook from terror and pain._

"_Anni... please..." Who was it now? I looked around, terrified of what I might find. My eyes connected with Luffy's. He reached out an arm to me, unable to stretch any farther. "Help... us..."_

"_Anni..." Nami and Vivi whispered my name in unison. "Please... help... us..."_

"_Help... me..." Usopp was trampled by the feet as they kept stomping._

_A squawk sounded from behind me and I spun frantically to try and prevent my nakama from dying. Too panicked to count, I couldn't keep track of who was calling out. All the voices mixed together, whispering, calling out, pleading for help._

"_Anni... please... please..." Chopper's voice was the last straw. I screamed my throat out to the heavens, pleading for someone to help my nakama and put me out of my misery. The blood seeped through the snow, staining the vicious feet red. I looked down at my shaking hands, scarlet with the spilled life and dreams of my nakama._

I awoke with a start, sitting bolt upright. I frantically grabbed my blanket and bunched it up before hugging it tightly. I was panting, and tears streamed down my face. I fell back onto my mattress, hugging my blanket, my pillow, anything within my grasp. My back hurt like hell and I wasn't bending it at all.

"Why?" I whispered into my blanket, shaking.

After I had collected myself, I grabbed a jacket. It was fluffy on the inside and warm and made me feel safe. I checked Nami's and Vivi's beds, making sure that they were alive and safe. I snuck up the stairs and lifted the trapdoor, closing it quietly behind me. What I didn't see was the two heads lift up, look at each other with pitying looks and go back down.

I shivered at the cold as the wind hit my legs, still in pyjama shorts. I made my way down the stairs and down to the trapdoor to the guys' room. I didn't see the long-nosed head poke curiously over the side of the crow's nest.

I lifted the trapdoor and climbed silently down the ladder. Carue was asleep on the couch, snoring lightly. I checked the first hammock with a pounding heart, and sighed with relief. Luffy was alive. I checked the second. Chopper, too. Usopp's was empty, so I figured that he was on watch. Zoro was sprawled across his, snoring loudly, so I figured that he was in no danger. Last one. Sanji was alive and well.

I sat down on the floor with my heart still pounding. I was so relieved that I didn't hear the rustling sound coming from the first hammock that I checked.

"Anni...?" Luffy's voice came from the other side of the room as he stumbled out of his hammock. His feet hit the floor with an unsteady thump and he rubbed his eyes blearily. "Is it my turn on watch now?"

I rushed up to him and hugged him tightly. He rocked backwards unsteadily, but caught his balance.

"Anni! Is something wrong?" he asked in a concerned tone.

I hugged him tighter, whispering, "No, just a nightmare."

He put his arms around me comfortingly, whispering, "Do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head. "It was about you – all of you – and you died and I couldn't save you and you were all asking for help and I was too injured and I watched you all die and it was my fault and..." I trailed off, tears spiking at the backs of my eyes.

"That would never happen."

I looked up, confused.

"We won't die. Ever. I will make sure that I never lose a nakama," Luffy said determinedly, looking down at me.

I nodded. "Okay," I agreed, unable to do anything else.

We stayed there for a while in silence until I eventually pulled away, pulling my jacket around me. "Thanks, Luffy," I said gratefully. He nodded, watching me leave. I didn't know that the others had heard the entire conversation.

I headed back to my room silently, collapsing on my bed. I prayed to not have another nightmare, but I would have nearly preferred that to what I dreamed about.

_In my dream, Sanji and Zoro were dressed as Superman and Batman, respectively, and they tried to defeat the evil balloon monster that looked suspiciously like Luffy that was destroying a huge city made of marshmallows. They failed, however, and ended up being forced to swim across a lake to get a newspaper for Vivi, who was dressed in black leather with a whip and was laughing like a maniac. To save them, I had to go on a marshmallow-subway to a marshmallow-Starbucks with Chopper, who was dressed in a suit and had a pair of stage binoculars to inspect everything. When we got there, the balloon monster had destroyed everything except for the doughnut display. Usopp blocked us before we took one however, saying that we had to pay, but Chopper inspected him with the stage binoculars and he shrunk down into a small fern that waved around happily. I reached over him and ate the doughnut that turned me into a giant pointy pencil and popped the evil monster, freeing Nami, who was the president of Starbucks and she killed everyone for destroying her store, including Zoro and Sanji, who had no part in it. In the end, Nami the president of Starbucks and Vivi the whip-wielding sadist ruled the world happily._

I woke up gasping, "What does it mean?"

The room was empty, thankfully, but I quickly got dressed and ran up to the kitchen where I stared at my nakama. Eating lunch (whatever there was). Normally. Having conversations. Normally. Fighting and arguing. Normally.

_Okay, Anni. In situations like this, you gotta check for superhero costumes, suits, whips, and happy little ferns. None? Good._

I sighed and sat down in a seat next to Vivi who was wearing _normal _clothes_._ She reached across me to grab the sad wilted lettuce and I nearly flinched out of my skin. She misinterpreted it to be related to my nightmare and put a reassuring hand on my shoulder, but I flinched again.

The rest of lunch proceeded in the same fashion. I nearly yelped when Nami reached across me and I kept trying to see if Sanji and Zoro were wearing superhero costumes underneath their clothes. This resulted in a very awkward situation that I erased from my memory within the next few seconds.

XxX

As the ship drew closer to Arabasta, we started to see ships on the horizon. Vivi explained that they were most likely Baroque Works ships belonging to the Billions. We collectively decided (Nami 'explained') that if we attacked, we would most likely be annihilated immediately.

Just after she finished 'explaining' the sea rose up behind us. A huge cat-like fish thing broke through the surface. Zoro drew his swords, Luffy readied his fists, and my hands burst into flame.

"No, wait!" Vivi cried, jumping in front of us, "This is a sacred animal!"

"But Vivi..." Luffy whined.

"It was food..." I continued.

"We could have _eaten _it!" Zoro finished.

Sanji lit a cigarette and sighed, "But this must mean that we're getting close to Arabasta, right?"

Nami pointed to the horizon. "Yes, look! You can see it already!"

We all darted to the edge of the ship where a sandy, hot island was creeping over the horizon.

* * *

A/N

I nearly cried twice while writing this. Once from sadness and once from laughter. I'm gonna try to write more and update faster, because you guys totally deserve it, but life is a little crazy with scholarships and dance exams and four tests in the same freaking week! You know, just a little crazy.

I recently had the _weirdest_ dream where I was at a school dance with only eight people, then I had my own couch in the middle of the hallway of the school. For some reason it was a country and I kept getting these messages written on sticks that said random (totally unreal) gossip. One said something like two of my friends were in a secret relationship (but they've never actually met irl). Then after that, I had to climb up a pyramid and take a picture of my friends and I with a glass jungle. I woke up and was like, 'Wtf, brain?'. But anyways, have any of you ever had crazy random dreams like that? (I could add them to the story if you want)

See ya!


	14. Chapter 14

A/N

I don't know if any of you have noticed, but Anni hasn't actually explained that she doesn't have Devil Fruit powers. Right now, the crew has assumed that she has them, even though they haven't seen her swim (or sink). They also haven't asked how old she is.

Btw, I didn't feel like rewatching the entire thing, so I bought the manga and I'm working from that. Mostly. I'm kinda rewatching parts of it anyway.

Enjoy!

* * *

Anni's POV

Arabasta was huge! That's why it took us several days to get there after we spotted it, all the while with a giant desert looming in front of us. During those few days, we ran completely out of food and water and had to rely on Luffy's and Usopp's fishing skills (after making them promise to never again catch an Okama that would try to copy our faces). I had a few more nightmares and every time I had one, I would get up and check to make sure that my nakama were alive.

Finally, after many long hours of dramatic groaning and pleading for food, we docked at a port that Vivi called Nanohana. It was a beautiful city, but the first thought that entered our heads was, "FOOD!"

That was also the first word out of Luffy's and my mouth when we got off the ship. We took off running the moment our feet touched the ground.

"Wait! Luffy, Anni!" Nami shouted after us, but we were long gone.

I sniffed the air as I ran down the street. "Luffy! I think I smell a restaurant!" I turned left, "This way!"

"Yosha! Straight ahead!" Luffy yelled enthusiastically from behind me. We crashed into people and carts who were too slow to move out of the way and left a trail of destruction in our wake. I ran around the corners so fast that they turned into a blur of screaming people and animals and carts moving out of the way. Running after the delicious scent of meat and sake was the one thing that kept me moving because my hunger was greater than my exhaustion.

We followed our noses to a wide street where we spotted a restaurant at the end of it. Luffy stretched out his arms to grab the doorframe. I grabbed one of his feet before he got too far away and hung on for dear life. He zoomed forwards to the source of the delicious smell and I realized that something would have to stop us, because we were going way too fast to stop normally (without destruction).

I glanced over Luffy's shoulder as we flew into the restaurant and caught a glimpse of a white coat as we crashed into the unfortunate person wearing it. I let go of Luffy's foot and was instantly possessed by the delicious smells coming from the tables.

"Ossan, food!" Luffy shouted, jumping into one of the seats at the bar.

"Me too!" I followed him, adding, "And a bottle of sake!"

The bartender's eyes darted from us to the wall beside us. Following his line of sight, I saw a huge, ragged, new-looking hole in the wall. I figured that it came from the guy that we crashed into, but I was too hungry to care.

The nervous bartender gave us the things that we wanted and we started eating like the starving people we were. It was so good! The best –and only– thing that we had eaten for the past few days.

"Umm... I think you should probably run away now," the bartender mumbled, glancing nervously in the direction of the hole in the wall as he watched us eat.

"No worries, the food is great, ossan!" Luffy declared with his mouth full.

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's the best!"

As I reached for a second bottle of sake, a rich looking man grabbed it and lifted it out of my reach. He stared down at me with a look of disdain and said, "Young lady, I highly disapprove of under-age drinking."

Luffy looked over at me and said through a mouthful of meat, "Oh yeah, Anni, we never asked how old you were."

I thought for a moment. "Umm... I'm not really sure how old I am. I think I'm around seventeen, but I'm not quite sure. It's hard to keep track of things like that when you- wait," I interrupted myself, "That means I don't know when my birthday is! No!"

The rich man shook his head at my drama. "I believe that I will have to turn you in for under-age drinking."

"Hey," I said, glaring at him, "If you tell me the legal age around here, then I'll stop." It was a gamble, but I was willing to try it.

He paused, unsure of what to say. "Ah, well, you see..."

I turned back to my food, kicking him away. "Hypocrite. Don't let the door hit you on the way out," I said as he spun around and walked away in a huff.

We each grabbed a third plate of food and kept eating; I was gulping down the sake along with the meat and whatever else I was eating. The bartender tried to convince us to leave again, but neither of us paid any attention.

"Mugiwara!" The restaurant shook with the shout. I kept eating and drinking as we both looked up. It was the man that we crashed into, and he looked pretty angry. He pushed away another guy with an orange hat on and walked up to us slowly. The room fell silent, except for the smacking sounds of our chewing.

"Stop eating!" he yelled furiously.

"Mmmfff! I mow oo! Ur dat mmoke dy!" (Oh! I know you! You're that smoke guy!) Luffy shouted through his mouthful of food, spraying the man.

I turned to him. "Oo dow dis dy?" (You know this guy?) I asked. I assumed that it was someone who Luffy had met before me.

He nodded. "Mm. Wets wun deffow ee dets uth." (Mm. Let's run before he gets us.)

Luffy scooped up his food and shoved it in his mouth, causing it to expand unnaturally. I grabbed what I could fit in my mouth and took a sake bottle in each hand.

"Wun!" (Run!) Luffy shouted, sprinting out with me right behind him.

From behind us, someone shouted Luffy's name. Without looking back, we ran out into the streets and were faced by a girl who looked just a little older than us. She held a katana and ran at us, but we leaped over her and continued running. The smoke man that interrupted our meal threw an arm out at us and it expanded into a long snake-like cloud.

I spun and countered it with a fireball, but it wasn't enough to stop the man, though he did seem slightly surprised. Other marines were joining in the chase and people were stopping to watch us. We ran for what seemed like forever, but it was really only about ten minutes.

We were running past a short street on the edge of the town when Luffy spotted the rest of the crew. We ran towards them screaming as they tried to shoo us away. The marines and the smoke man were just about to hit us when a burst of fire shot down from one of the rooftops.

We stared in amazement as a man jumped down from the rooftops and stood in the middle of the swirling inferno. Upon closer inspection, he seemed to be part of the flames. The tips of his fingers were vanishing into the fire, but before we could say anything, he grinned at Luffy and said, "You never change, do you, Luffy?"

Luffy's face lit up in an enormous grin. "Ace!"

"Make your getaway. I'll take care of these guys and meet up with you later," Ace said, turning back to focus on the fight, "Go!"

Luffy turned around and sprinted off in the direction of the ship. I followed quickly after taking a moment to admire the blazing inferno that this Ace person had created.

Everyone grabbed the supplies that they had been shopping for and ran after Luffy and me. On the way, I noticed that the crew had changed clothes. Nami and Vivi were wearing skimpy dancer outfits while the boys were wearing clothing more fit for the desert. I could guess who went shopping for everyone else: a certain blond perverted cook.

As we ran, huge explosions of fire and smoke shook the ground behind us. I could hear shouts, screams, and a lone shout of laughter. I ran backwards for a while to watch what I could of the fight, but I accidentally ran into a wall and jarred my back.

"Hey Luffy, who's that?" I asked, rubbing my back.

He grinned like Chopper with candy. "Ace is my onii-san. He's a pirate too, and he left our island three years before I did."

"I'm not surprised that you have an older brother, but what is he doing here?" Zoro asked.

Luffy shrugged as another explosion rocked the ground.

We reached the ship without any further incidents that we knew of. As we all scrambled up the side of the ship, Vivi stopped and addressed Carue, "Wait, I have an important message. I need you to take this letter to my father in Alubarna. It has proof of Crocodile's plot and his association with Baroque Works."

As she fastened the note around Carue's neck, he took off running across the desert. As soon as he was out of sight, she climbed up the side of the ship and we set off into the shallow water around the coast-line. Before we got far, however, Vivi mentioned the thing that was on all of our minds.

"I feel like we're missing something," she said slowly.

I nodded. "Yeah, but what is it? I feel like it's just on the tip of my tongue."

"Hmm... Is it one of us?" Usopp thought out loud.

"Oh, yeah. Where's Luffy?" I asked, finally noticing that it was our idiot captain that was missing.

"That BAKA! He went the wrong way!" Nami shouted in frustration.

We all sighed in disappointment.

"I guess we'll just have to wait for him then," Usopp sighed.

Vivi pointed off into the distance where the cliff dipped in towards the land. "There should be a cove up ahead where we can hide the ship without being caught."

"But is this okay? Sailing without Luffy, I mean," Chopper said worridly.

I patted him on the head. "Don't worry, he'll be fine," I said, pulling out a bag of marshmallows, our favorite snack, "D'ya want a marshmallow?"

"Mm!"

As we snacked on the fluffy clouds of sweetness, Nami wandered over to us.

"Anni, I have a question for you," she started, "Where do you get those from?"

I pointed back to the town. "I took them from a store down there when no one was looking. They're really good, want one?"

I dug around in my bag and pulled out a small can of powdered iced tea and a handful of chocolate bars. "I got these too, do you want one?"

She hit my head hard. "We're here to save this country, not steal from local businesses!"

"Oww... Couldn't you be a little more gentle?" I moaned, holding my head.

She continued to lecture me about thievery and other stuff while I continued to roll around on the deck in pain. Chopper simply looked on at what he had gotten himself into as he finished my marshmallows.

XxX

After a few minutes of waiting, we had almost given in to the thought that Luffy had been distracted. However, just as we were about to give up, a long rubber arm stretched out and grabbed hold of the railing. Luffy flew across the water and crashed into Chopper and I, sending us crashing into the opposite railing.

"Oww... Luffy I think you broke my back... Not that it didn't feel like this already..." I groaned, flopping over to the side in defeat.

Chopper fussed over me as Luffy sat in the middle of the deck, laughing his head off. The little doctor ran around me checking my back injury and pretty much anywhere else, until I sat back up and shooed him away. "Chopper, I'm fine. I promise," I said, rubbing my head with one hand while flapping the other at him.

He had one last quick look over me before backing away and saying hesitantly, "Okay, if you're sure."

I stood up with the help of the little doctor and asked Luffy, "So, Luffy, if that was your onii-san back there, does that mean that you two grew up together?"

Luffy had stood up and was leaning against the baluster, grinning. "Yeah. Even after I had eaten the Gomu Gomu Fruit, I still couldn't beat him in a fight. So I was surprised to see that he ate one too."

"Imagine that, two brothers that both ate a Devil's Fruit," Sanji muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Even with the Devil Fruit's powers, you couldn't beat a normal person? Is he really that strong?" Nami asked.

"Ha ha ha! Yeah, but don't worry. Even if he is Whitebeard's Second Division commander, I could definitely beat him now!" Luffy answered, laughing.

A voice floated up from the side of the boat as we stood dumbstruck by that piece of information.

"And just who..."

A figure jumped up from the sea and landed on the side of the boat with a thump.

"Do you think you can beat?"

We were all shocked into silence as the very man we had been talking about sat on the railing of the ship. Now that I could get a better look at him, I noticed that he had an orange cowboy hat on his head and a green stripey backpack. He wore a necklace with red beads over a bare chest and he had an orange armband on his elbow. His baggy shorts were black with an orange belt, and he wore big, black boots. Most noticeable was the tattoo on his arm that had the letters, A, S, C, and E, with the S crossed out.

_Hmm... I wonder why the S is crossed out. Maybe he misspelled his name when he got it and he had to change it. Whatever, it looks cool anyways._

"Hey, Ace! These are the nakama that I was telling you about!" Luffy pointed to each of us as he introduced us, "This is Zoro. He's going to be the best swordsman in the world. This is Nami, and she's our navigator and the one that's in charge of the money. Usopp is our sniper and inventor. Sanji is our cook, and he makes really good food! Vivi is the princess of Arabasta and she has a bird named Carue that... where is Carue, anyway? Never mind. This is Anni, she's a pyromaniac who likes to drop things on our heads. And this is Chopper. He's a reindeer and a doctor and he has Devil's Fruit powers," Luffy sighed as he finished his long-winded introduction.

Ace nodded politely to each of us as we were introduced. "Well, I see that my little brother has been in good care."

We all nodded. "Yes, he has."

"He can be a bit of trouble sometimes, can't he?" he continued.

"Yes, he can," we said again.

"Well then, I'll leave him in your care," he finished.

"You must have a long story to tell us. Do you want to come inside? I can make some tea," Sanji offered.

Ace shook his head. "No, it's fine. Thank you for the offer, though."

"This isn't true. I have to be dreaming. Someone this polite can't be related to Luffy," Nami whispered to me.

"I find it hard to believe that there are pirates this polite, _and_ able to tolerate a brother like Luffy. Actually, that might be the reason he left..." I muttered back.

"Well, we're the ones stuck with him now. He's our captain," Nami reminded me.

"Oh yeah..."

"Hey, that's rude," Vivi exclaimed, hearing our quiet conversation.

Zoro joined in, "But it's true."

As we muttered about the manners of our gluttonous captain, Luffy chuckled, "See, Ace? Aren't they the best?"

Before Ace could reply, Chopper shrieked. We all rushed to his side and looked in the direction he was hiding from. In the water drifting around the corner, there were about ten Baroque Works ships.

"Hmm... Them again?" Luffy wondered, oblivious to Chopper, Vivi, and Usopp's panic.

"Oi, Luffy," Ace said, walking towards the side of the ship, "I'll get these guys. Don't bother trying to fight them."

He jumped off the ship with a yell. I ran to the side and looked over, just to make sure that the guy wasn't getting any ideas of being able to swim. However, tied to the Merry, there was a small boat, but it didn't look like any boat that I'd seen before. It was small and sleek, with no oars, and it had an engine-like thing on the back.

Ace landed on the boat and his feet burst into flame, propelling the small boat forwards at an amazing speed.

"Ooooh! That's super awesome!" Luffy said in awe with sparkling eyes.

"I want one of those!" I added, my eyes sparkling too.

"Let's see what this Commander of Whitebeard's Second Division can do," Zoro said, crossing his arms.

As he approached the Baroque Works ships, Ace jumped insanely high and seemed to hover over the ships, propelling himself forward with a jet of flame from his feet. He then burst into an inferno and with a shout of, "Hikken!" he shot the massive fireball at the ships, incinerating both them, and the people on them.

"Woah..." I whispered, amazed.

Zoro nudged me. "Hey, why can't you do that?"

"Because I'm not a human fireball with absolutely no shred of fear! And I have back problems," I shouted back.

"With all due respect, Anni-chwan, you do seem quite similar to the first part of that statement, and, how do I put this..." Sanji said, trailing off.

"He's saying that you _are _a human fireball with no shred of fear and when you say that second part, you sound like an old lady," Nami stated bluntly.

I puffed out my cheeks in frustration and looked back at the raging flames that were devouring the ships. I didn't see Ace anywhere, but just as I was about to say something about it, I spotted him zooming back to the Merry on his little boat with a triumphant smirk on his face.

He jumped back up onto the deck and everyone ran to congratulate him. Somehow, amongst the chaos, someone (yeah, _no _idea who at _all_) had brought out the sake, and we were all soon drinking and cheering.

"To our new nakama, Ace!" Usopp shouted.

"Kanpai!" we all cheered.

"To the sake!" Zoro added.

"Kanpai!"

"To all the cool pyromaniacs in the world!" I said.

"Kanpai! Wait, what?"

As we argued over who was the coolest of us, Ace interjected with a, "Hey, who said I'll be joining you guys anyways?"

We all pointed at Usopp. "Him."

"Are you actually going to join us, Ace?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No, I'm after a man who goes by the name of Blackbeard."

"Hmm... I think I've heard that name before... Oh yeah! That was the name of the guy who attacked Chopper's island!" I exclaimed, hitting my hand with my fist, "If you find him here in Arabasta, can I beat him up first?"

"No, he's too powerful for you guys to defeat. He committed the worst crime a pirate can. He murdered his nakama, and then ran away," Ace said gravely. "As his Commander, I have to track him down and kill him. He's eaten one of the Devil's Fruits and I'm not sure what his motives are, but I will find him."

I puffed out my cheeks again. "Hmph. Well, if you need help, I sure want to beat him up too for Chopper's sake."

"Well, the only reason that I came here was because he was reportedly seen in Yuba," Ace said, avoiding my statement.

Vivi held out a map. "So you're going to the same place that we are," she pointed to a spot on the map near the coastline, "This is where we are, and we're heading through Erumalu towards Yuba. That's where the head of the Rebel army is."

"So it looks like you'll be traveling with us for a while," Sanji said.

Ace nodded. "Yup. I hope you don't mind my company."

"Not at all. I makes a nice change from Luffy's eating habits. And Zoro's. And Anni's. They're disgusting when it comes to food, especially meat," Nami sighed with a defeated attitude.

"Oh, does your cook make a lot of meat?" Ace asked enthusiastically.

Sanji looked slightly insulted. "Of course I do. I'm a chef. Why wouldn't I?"

Nami slid down to the deck looking depressed as Vivi comforted her with thoughts of people who ate normally and politely.

"To delicious food!" Luffy cheered, distracting us.

We raised our mugs. "Kanpai!"

We continued to kanpai to nearly anything as the ship headed in towards the land. I'm sure the non-drinkers like Nami and Vivi were quite fed up with us after a while, judging by the violence that broke out after we kanpai-ed to the sake for the fifth time.

"Ow... To beating up Crocodile!"

"And Blackbeard!"

"KANPAI!"

* * *

A/N

*smiles widely*

Hello there. Did you know that having a dance exam, a socials test, math test, science test, French test, English essay, HCE project, and choir performance, in the same two weeks can make a person go slightly insane?*still smiling widely*

Besides my current insanity, I have a few important things to say if you're still reading. One, the pairing that you guys are contradicted about. I am very familiar with people gradually getting closer (cough cough last four years) and still being oblivious (cough cough same guy) so I think that it is completely unrealistic to rush things. I want this story to be very realistic, so _please_ tell me if I am doing something wrong or OOC. Also, I realized that if I'm going to try to catch up with the series within a year, I'm going to have to cover about -whips out calculator- eleven episodes per chapter if this is weekly. Oh dear. I will speed up very soon once this insanity is over.

On the plus side, I passed my dance exam with the second highest mark!


	15. Chapter 15

A/N

Yo. If the nightmares bother you, don't worry. They're going to end soon. And if anyone else stalls for time in the morning by talking in circles when someone is trying to wake you up, I'm glad to know you exist. I'm one of those people who just disagrees with anything that is said with the intent to get me up.

Enjoy!

* * *

Anni's POV

_The nightmares were getting worse. This time, I was climbing up an icy cliff, and my nakama were just behind me. The wind howled around us, stinging my cheeks with tiny ice needles. My vision was blocked by the snowstorm, so I couldn't tell how high up I was. When I looked up, there was just a blank wall of white below them, but in the back of my head, I knew that I had to get to the top. With each step I took, I got farther away from the climbing figures._

_A scream echoed from below, bouncing off the sheer wall of ice. I looked down in a panic, and saw a horrifying sight. The cliff was slowly crumbling from the bottom up, with icy chunks falling into a dark abyss. As it gained speed, my crew frantically climbed faster and faster, until the speeding cracks sliced through their hand and foot holds. With screams of terror, they fell one by one into the creeping darkness._

"_Anni, you need to help us!" came the shrieks from below. They echoed around but didn't fade. Instead, they got stronger and started to burrow into my head, transforming into the only words that could possibly be worse. "Anni, why didn't you help us?"_

"_Anni, you could have helped us."_

"_Anni, you should have helped us."_

"_Should have helped us..."_

"_Should have helped..."_

"_Should have..."_

"_Should..."_

_As the words bounced around, I slowly let my grip falter and plunged down into the darkness to join my fallen nakama._

I jerked awake, but this time I kept my eyes shut. Tears pricked through my eyelids as I shook silently, my body rigid in terror. I could still see their faces as they fell, still hear their voices as they begged for help. I could still feel the icy snowflakes pelting against my face and for the first time in quite a few years, I was cold.

I shivered at this realization. It wasn't a big deal to most people, but to me, this was an issue. It meant that my state of mind was such that my powers couldn't unconsciously regulate my body heat. It was normally half a degree to a degree hotter than most normal people, but now I was shaking from the cold in the cabin. I lit a finger on fire cautiously, just to make sure that some terrible mental trauma had not caused my powers to disappear. I breathed a sigh of relief as the warm glow lit up the room.

Pulling my blankets closer to me, I snuggled down to the warmest part of my mattress. The heat made me feel safe and protected from all the terrible visions that haunted my sleep. As a result, the rest of the night passed without any... _other _scarring dreams.

XxX

"Anni, wake up."

"Blegh. Go away."

"Anni, you have to wake up now."

"No, I have to sleep. Go away."

"Anni, if you don't wake the hell up right now, I will drag you, your mattress, and your blanket to the side of the ship and dump you in the water. The _cold _water."

"Noooo... you're sooo mean to me..."

"And you're lazy."

"No. Just tired. Go away."

"Anni... If you don't get up now, I'll show the crew those yaoi books that I found in your bag."

I sat bolt upright, fully awake and terrified. "No! Don't! Anything but the yaoi! No, wait! They aren't..." I trailed off as Nami shook her head in disappointment, "mine...?"

"I can't believe that you read such atrocious things," Nami said, picking up my bag from beside my head and rummaging around in it, "But I'm glad that I now have blackmail."

I blinked. "So... you just guessed that they were there?"

She winked and smirked. "Yes. It was a wild guess, but it paid off."

I flopped back down. "Ugh. I'm going to go dig a hole, shrivel up, and die in it. Actually, I don't have the energy for that. I'll just die here," I moaned, curling up into my blanket.

"Don't you dare fall back asleep!"

BONK!

"Ow!"

"Get up!"  
XxX

I stumbled out the door, blinking in the bright sunlight. Nami had shoved an outfit in my face and I had put it on out of sheer fear and obliviousness. I seemed to have a vague recollection of some atrocious pink frilly outfit that she had made me wear sometime, but I couldn't place when or where. The current outfit that I was wearing wasn't quite as bad, but it was definitely some kind of disguise. Or maybe this was what people wore here. I hoped that if that was true, it was only the girls who wore these. If I never saw another Okama in my life, it would be too soon.

I was wearing a red bikini top with black swirly designs on it and a long skirt in black and darker red that was similar to what I had seen Nami and Vivi wear yesterday. I also had a long dark cape thingy that kept tripping me, and a huge scowl on my face.

"Oh, Anni! Tell Usopp that we really are going to travel across the desert. Shishishi~, he won't believe us," Luffy laughed, completely oblivious to my foul mood.

I stormed past the two of them, emitting a dark aura that caused Usopp to run and hide behind Luffy.

"Do it yourself," I snarled.

"Why, Anni-chwan, what has put you in such a dismal mood? I promise I will do all in my power to fix this!" Sanji walked up to me with a plate of tall iced drinks.

I grabbed one and stomped off to my chair on the front of the deck. "Nami did it," I answered bluntly, tripping over Zoro, who was lying on the deck, right where I was walking.

"Dammit, Zoro! Move your lazy ass to someplace that I won't trip over it!" I muttered, stepping over him to walk up the stairs to my chair, only to find that it was already occupied by a certain lazy cowboy-hat-wearing pyro.

"Grrrr..." I muttered curses as I flipped the chair over, dumping Ace onto the deck. I then carried the chair up to the goat head on the front of the Going Merry and balanced it where no one would mess with it. I flopped down on it and sipped my drink, trying to relax. I didn't work though, so I put the glass down and rolled onto my side, shutting my eyes.

XxX

_I only registered flashes of the scene going on before me. My nakama were lying in shallow graves made of snow. They were deathly pale and only breathing slightly. I rushed towards them, but before I could get to them, a metal pole struck me in the back, going through my stomach and pinning me to the ground. As I watched helplessly, items started to fall from the sky to their respective owners, but they were incinerated just a foot off the ground before they landed._

_A slingshot fell down, but it never reached the ground._

_A map floated down with the snowflakes, but all that landed was ash._

_A thin crown and a bright yellow feather burst into flames._

_A cigarette was consumed by the lit tip as it tumbled down._

_Three swords clanked against each other before they were burnt out of existence._

_A small bag with doctors supplies spilling out of it tumbled down before being incinerated._

_Finally, a straw hat with a red band floated down from the sky agonizingly slowly. I tried to shut my eyes, but the nightmare wouldn't let me. I had to watch as it drifted down on the slight breeze. The sides caught fire first, and it burned from the outside in._

_Nothing could be heard, except for the shallow breaths of my nakama. One by one, they were silenced until my own shaky breaths were all that echoed in my ears. My mouth filled with a metallic taste from my wound. I couldn't move because of the pole in my back, but if I could, I would have sprinted towards the silent bodies_

_One...Two... Three... I counted slowly, but my consciousness was slipping and all I wanted was to fall into the comforting darkness._

XxX

"Anni!"

"Is she alright?"

"Is it another nightmare?"

"She's doing that strange back-arch thing again."

"Oh no! She could become seriously hurt and her spine could become really fragile and-"

"Chopper, relax. We're trying to wake her up."

"Eh? What's going on with her?"

My eyes snapped open to reveal three worried faces and one confused one. Chopper, Nami, and Vivi were bent over in front of me with concerned looks while Ace stood behind my chair looking down at me. I blinked twice before Chopper, Nami, and Vivi crowded around me asking me frantic questions. I shrunk back in my chair as the close proximity made me feel intensely uncomfortable.

"How do you feel?"

"Are you all right?"

"Do you feel faint? Sore? Where does it hurt?"

"I'm fine!" I shouted, overwhelmed.

They backed off a little bit, but still looked slightly worried.

"I'm fine, really," I assured them, "I'm awake, so no more nightmare. 'Kay? All good."

"Okay, if you say so..." Vivi said, still looking unsure.

Nami nodded and Chopper fidgeted, but all three of them got down from the goat head in some way. With them gone, I sighed in relief and lay back in my chair and shut my eyes to contemplate my dream.

"Excuse me..."

My eyes opened again to stare into an upside down face with black hair.

"What?"

Ace blinked, causing a few more strands of hair to fall. He had a hand on his hat to prevent it from falling off his head, and was leaning over the back of my chair. It was quite disconcerting.

"What exactly happened? You were kind of twitching... and your back was really straight," he asked, swaying slightly but regaining his balance.

I looked away from the distracting sight of Ace's upside down face handing in front of me. "It's nothing, really. Just some nightmares that keep coming back."

He straightened up and moved to lean against one of the goat's horns. "Well, what are they about? I've had some pretty bad ones before."

I stared out at the river we were approaching and mumbled, "Well, I keep having visions about my nakama dying and I can't save them."

"Hmm... nope! I can't help you there!" Ace grinned, "You just need to build up trust with your nakama that they won't die, and _bam!_ the nightmares will stop."

"Thanks..."

The moment was ruined by a shout of, "Out of my seat!" followed by two rubber arms grabbing the horns of the goat head and propelling their owner towards us. Our eyes widened at the sight of Luffy zooming at us at an incredible speed.

**BAM!**

Luffy knocked me and Ace off the boat, somehow missing my chair. I seemed to see it in slow motion; we were all hovering in the air before time sped up again and the three of us plunged into the water.

**SPLASH!**

I opened my eyes underwater and saw millions of bubbles flying upwards, then the two raven-haired brothers sunk past me, plunging into the darkness below. I had a flash of my nightmare from the morning; the one where I saw them falling. Shaking the vision away, I collected myself and dove down after them.

The water got darker and darker, but I caught up to them. I hooked an arm around each of their waists and kicked hard to bring them back up. I was halfway there when my breath started to run out and my strength suddenly took a turn for the weaker. I kicked frantically to get up to the tantalizingly close surface.

The little evil unhelpful voice in the back of my head suggested that if I let them go, I could save myself. I didn't give that voice a second thought as I mentally burned it into ashes. That gave me an idea though. I gathered up my remaining energy and forced it out my feet in the form of flaming jets, thrusting me, Luffy, and Ace out of the water and into the air. I managed to steer us towards the Going Merry.

With a thud, we landed in a heap on the deck. I gasped for air and coughed up lungfuls of water. Squirming out from under the wet heap that was Luffy and Ace, I checked both of them for pulses. I slumped down against the side of the deck and vaguely heard muffled voices. They called out to me, but I slipped away into the calling darkness.

XxX

When I awoke, I was in the comfiest bed in the world. I snuggled down under the puffy covers and smiled. Then I realized that I couldn't hear anything. I hit the side of my head a few times in case it was water in my ears, and it cleared.

That was when the snoring hit me. The loud, congested snoring that seemed to come from (not above my head! Get your minds out of _my_ gutter!) the side of the bed. I frowned and squirmed myself to the side where it was coming from. I looked over the side of the bed and recognized the room. I was in Nami's bed, while Ace and Luffy were on mine and Vivi's mattresses.

"Anni! You're alright? How do you feel? Are you hurt?"

Chopper's voice preceded his frantic footsteps coming down the wooden stairs. He rushed down and hopped over the two snorers, jumping on Nami's bed. Before he said anything, however, I sat up and swung my legs over the edge.

"Chopper, I'm fine. What happened while I was out?" I asked, stretching my arms over my head.

"Well, if you insist that you're fine..." he started, "We docked the Merry on the edge of a river and met up with some things called... what was it again? Oh, yes! They were called Kung Fu Jugon. They look like a cross between a turtle and a seal. Usopp got beaten up pretty bad by one despite Vivi's warning that-"

Chopper was cut off as Luffy awoke suddenly and sprang up from Vivi's mattress, sprinting outside with sparkles in his eyes. I followed quickly, pausing only to pat Chopper on the head and praise him for being such a good doctor for which he danced around happily while insulting me.

"Luffy, wait for me!" I shouted as I ran after him, anticipating the sight of these turtle-seals.

I ran out the door and jumped off the side of the deck onto the sand. Usopp was lying at the feet of an adorably cute ninja-turtle-seal looking a little worse for wear. Well, if having a puffed up face and two black eyes could be considered a little worse for wear.

Before the little thing could have a moment to adapt to the sight of us, I grabbed it under the arms and spun it around happily. I could practically feel the virtual sparkles and bubbles floating in the air around us. Unfortunately, the moment was ruined when Luffy yelled,

"Fight me!" and leaped towards me.

The little seal eagerly jumped out of my arms and struck up a stance in front of Luffy. They started to fight, kicking up dust and sand in the process. Vivi shouted in protest, warning Luffy against the dangers of fighting a Kung Fu Jugon.

I felt a tap against my leg and I looked down. Looking up at me was another small ninja-turtle-seal. It raised its fists and jumped backwards, looking for a fight. Who was I to ignore that cute little guy's request? I jumped at it with flaming hands and knocked it over in one hit.

Before I could get a chance to check on it, three more requested to fight me. I defeated them in a short amount of time and the others that came at me after were demolished quickly. I started to lose control of my actions, letting the routines of the fight carry me on.

"STOP!"

Blinking out of my reverie, I caught a small fuzzy punch that was being thrown at my face. Vivi was panting and looked especially angry at us.

"Vivi, what's up?" I asked, hugging the small fuzzy ninja-turtle-seal that was hanging from my fist.

She, for lack of a better word, growled at us, saying, "It's dangerous to do that! It's the code of the Kung Fu Jugon to become the student of anyone who defeats it!"

I looked behind me to see four lines of seals staring at me attentively. I raised my hand, and they followed my action.

"Cool!" I exclaimed.

"Arf!" they replied.

Chopper ran up to them, past me, and started talking in their language.

"Hey... Hey, Chopper! What are you doing?" I asked as he started to dole out food to them.

He paused and visibly shivered. "I'm just doing what Vivi told me to! It's bad for them to come with us, so they have to stay here. I'm... well... bribing them with food?" he explained nervously.

I pouted. "Aw. Then what about this one?" I pointed to the one in my arms that looked very happy. "Can I keep him?"

Chopper shook his head and beckoned to it. "No, he can't. Come here little guy. I have food for you," he called as it jumped out of my arms.

I pouty-stomped over to Vivi, but before I could complain to her, I caught a glimpse of the city behind the sand dune. It looked to have once been a huge and prosperous city, but now it was reduced to a pile of rubble. Wind blew lazily through the collapsed archways, and sand piled up against the fallen walls. The sun beat down on the stone and bricks, almost disintegrating them before our eyes as a dead air hung over the now ruined city.

"Woah..." I breathed. "That's... really sad."

Vivi nodded, our impending conversation forgotten. "This was caused by the lack of rain in this place. It was once called Erumalu, the green city, and it was full of life."

A distant crashing sound came from the ship, and Ace came running out and jumped down onto the sand. Nami followed quickly, shouting, "Get out there and do something useful! We're almost ready to go!" Looking out at Vivi, she called, "Sanji's getting our remaining food ready, and Zoro's packing everything up. We can probably go in a few minutes."

The rest of the crew, who were lounging around on the sand, stood up grumbling. I turned back to Vivi and asked, "So, how come there's a city here if there's no rain?"

We started to walk through the ruins of the city. "There used to be rain, but the sea came into the river and now there's no fresh water. The river there, it's made of pure salt water, so it's useless for crops or drinking. The one place that always had rain was the capital, Alubarna. People called it the King's Miracle, until the day that Crocodile staged an incident. There is stuff called Dance Powder, and it makes clouds condense where they are so that rain falls in that spot. However, that prevents the rain from falling on the neighboring oasis."

"Huh. That stuff sounds dangerous," I commented.

She nodded. "Yes, it is. And one day, some of Crocodile's underlings tipped over a cart filled with it, saying that it was for the king. It was a time of drought, so the people were confused with hunger and thirst. A rebellion broke out, and everything went according to Crocodile's plan. He was behind all of my misery, and I want to make him pay for it." Vivi sniffled.

I looked in front of us. We had walked in a circle and returned to the ship, but the entire crew had heard the explanation of Arabasta's problems. They all had dark looks as they contemplated the situation.

"Don't worry, Vivi. We'll beat up Crocodile and throw him out of the country for good," Luffy reassured her, his hat placed low over his eyes.

She sniffled. "Thank you guys so much. You have no idea what this means to me."

Nami was the first to break the silence. "Well, we're ready to go. We should start walking over the desert before night comes."

"Ah, no, wait! I have suddenly caught a particularly vicious disease called the I-can't-travel-across-the-desert-right-now-or-else-I'll-shrivel-up-and-die-in-the-sand Disease. It's a really terrible one, and it really will kill me..." Usopp pleaded with Nami as she handed him the ropes of the sled-like device that we were using to pull the supplies across the sand with.

I looked towards the horizon where enemies, rebellions, and death awaited us, and grinned in anticipation.

* * *

A/N

I know, I know. You all want to murder me for that cheesy and abrupt ending. I'll try to make the next chapter longer, because that's when things will start to pick up. And I promise that I'll include that drinking game idea in the next one. I _promise_.

And as a side note, I'm starting to write a bunch of short one-shots about my deleted scenes and scrapped ideas that wouldn't fit with the mood of the chapter. I might post it later on, so please leave ideas, no matter how crazy they might seem. Also, for those of you that want different pairings, or like fluff...

See ya!


	16. Chapter 16

A/N

I'm so sorry that you had to wait for this, but you can blame my English teacher (actually, no, blame me because my English teacher is awesome and I'm just lazy). We had to rewrite a chapter of Anne of Green Gables in another setting. Any setting _at all_. Cool, right? I chose the One Piece universe to set it in and it turned out halfway decent I think.

Enjoy!

* * *

Anni's POV

We had been walking for a few hours before the complaining started. Not the usual 'Usopp is scared', or 'Zoro and Sanji are fighting', or 'Luffy is hungry', or 'Ace fell asleep in the sand a few minutes ago and we haven't seen him since'. Everyone was complaining on some level about something, even Nami. I had just wanted to know if we were close to Yuba yet, but it was obviously the wrong question to ask at that time, as evidenced by the growing lump on my head.

"Vivi," I said, stumbling away from Nami and over to her, rubbing my head, "Are we almost there yet?"

"No," she replied shortly, "We'll be nearly halfway there once we reach the crags. It will take longer to get from the crags to Yuba, so we'll rest there for the night."

I looked at her in admiration. "Woah. You sure seem to know a lot about Yuba. Do you know anyone there?"

She turned her head away, but I saw her slight blush before she hid it. "Yes, an old childhood friend and his father live there."

I smirked, but didn't comment on her reaction. "So you must be pretty excited to get there, huh?"

She nodded. "Yes, I-" She was cut off by indignant yells.

"Luffy, that wasn't a sip! That was half of our water supply!"

"Well, you made me spit it out, so it didn't count!"

"You still drank it!"

I spun around and walked backwards to watch the scene. Luffy had drunk half of our water supply in one gulp, but before he could swallow, Nami and Usopp had both hit him so hard that he had spit it out into the sand. Now, they were fighting for no particular reason at all. As the fight came to a close, it was decided that Luffy would be the one to drag all of the supplies across the sand. Luffy protested against this decision vehemently, but shut up as soon as Nami glared at him.

Spinning around to walk forwards again, I was overcome with a wave of exhaustion when I saw Chopper being pulled by Zoro on a tiny sled. No doubt it was from the rescue that I had to perform, and the strain on my body only just kicked in.

"Zoro..." I whined, walking over to him and Chopper, "Can you pull me too?"

He looked at me disbelievingly, and shook his head. "No. You can walk on your own two feet or you'll get left behind."

"Aww... You're so mean," I moaned, eyeing Chopper jealously.

Zoro reached out and ruffled my hair, grinning at me. I swatted his hand away, huffing, and marched over to Usopp, who I hoped wouldn't bother me.

"Hey Usopp!" I said cheerily, figuring that if I could get Usopp to talk about one of his many 'adventures' it could make the time pass faster. "Do you have any exciting stories that you think I would like?"

He immediately puffed out his chest and started on one of his many detailed fables. "Yes, well, let's see... There was one where the inhabitants of a long forgotten nation asked me to find and retrieve their guardian deity. Of course, being the amazing and talented Captain Usopp that I am, I accepted the mission, even though it promised certain death. I searched the nation high and low, but came up empty handed. This didn't stop me, however, and I continued on valiantly. I finally came upon an ominous looking cave, where a giant was guarding it. I snuck around him like a mouse, not making any sound, but he noticed me and threw his spear at me. I accepted the unspoken challenge, and drew the precious long sword that the forgotten nation had given me to aid me on my quest. With two neat slashes, the giant lay in pieces on the ground, and I marched victoriously into the cave where a strange sight fell upon my eyes. There, in the center of the room, was a golden flame. It called me over, and told me that I was the hero of the nation because I had saved their deity. I brought the flame back to the people, and they rejoiced with sake and partying for three weeks. They were heartbroken when I announced that I had to leave and return to my hometown, but I said that others were waiting for me back home. They gave me gifts of-"

Usopp's story was cut short when a shout blasted its way through our ears.

"I SEE CRAGS!" Luffy yelled as he sped off into the distance with all our food and baggage towards a faint shadow rising up from behind a sand dune. A trail of dust and sand rose up behind him as he ran. Almost as soon as he had left, he came sprinting back with a distresses look on his face.

"There are dead birds up ahead! Chopper, you need to go and treat them!" he shouted as he ran back.

Vivi covered her mouth. "No, Luffy! They aren't dead! They are birds that pretend to be dead, but then they steal your supplies!"

Luffy cocked his head to one side with a confused expression. "Eh? How does that work?"

"They're lying birds that steal," I explained simply.

Luffy turned around in a rage and sprinted back to the crags to retrieve our supplies. Vivi and I quickly followed, but as soon as we got there, the birds took flight with bags of our belongings. There was barely anything left on the ground. I looked to the sky, and caught a glimpse of a bird struggling to hold a bag that was at least three times its size. It landed on the top of a rock to rest, but it saw me before I could do anything and smirked. That damn bird had the guts to smirk at me after it had stolen my stuff! No way was I letting it get away with it.

I shot a fireball at the irritating bird and singed its tail feathers. I watched with pleasure as it flew away squawking in pain. I walked over to the bag that it had been holding and peered inside. It contained five sleeping mats with blankets, quite a few sake bottles, and three bottles of water.

_Wonderful work, Anni. You saved the bag without any food in it._

I picked it up and brought it over to Nami and Vivi, who were taking note of how much stuff we had left. It didn't look like much, honestly. Vivi picked up the bag I handed her and looked through its contents, sighing at how little there was.

"Well, at least you managed to retrieve some of the mats, so we'll have a place to sleep," Nami said, peering over Vivi's shoulder, "And it's getting kind of dark, so I think that we'll have to stay here for the night."

We both nodded in agreement.

"Yes, it wouldn't be safe to travel by night out here in the desert," Vivi agreed, wandering off to look for any more remaining supplies.

"Now then, Anni, would you mind going hunting with the boys? We need food, and we don't have enough with us right now," Nami asked with a devilish smirk, knowing I couldn't refuse.

XxX

Two hours of hunting later, Luffy, Ace, Zoro, Sanji, and I had amassed a total of seven large reptile-like desert monsters that Vivi had said were edible. Sanji had mentioned needing someplace to cook them, so Ace and I had set a giant fire under one of the thinner outcroppings of rock, and it worked as a makeshift grill. The reptile meat wasn't the best tasting food that we had had recently, but Sanji still made it taste pretty good.

Nami and Vivi organized the sleeping pairs, since there were only five mats, and nine of us. Nami and Vivi were together, of course, Sanji was with Usopp, Zoro was with Chopper, Ace was with Luffy, and I was by myself. I set mine up on the edge of our little square thingy, Luffy and Ace were on the right side of me, and Zoro and Chopper were below.

After dinner was when the fun began, though. Zoro had found the sake, and we had started a game where someone would kanpai to the first thing that entered their heads, until we all passed out or gave up. Currently, we were all slightly dizzy and laughing a lot.

"To the desert!"

"Kanpai!"

"To the sake!"

"Kanpai!"

"To the great Captain Usopp!"

"Kanpai! Wait, what?"

"That's the third time! Or maybe it was the fo... four... fourd?"

"What's fourd?"

"Ya know, second, third, fourd!"

"Oh... okay!"

"To the fourd!"

"Kanpai!"

"Haha, silly. Fourd isn't a thing, it's a number!"

"Hahaha~!"

"I don't get it..."

We all laughed dizzily as Vivi tried to figure out what the heck 'fourd' was. Giving up, she took a huge gulp of her sake (Nami had done, well, something to make her participate, and we were all shocked at her enthusiasm to drink. It was very strange.). Zoro refilled our mugs with the second to last remaining sake bottle.

"Hum, that's odd," I commented, "Where did all the sake go?"

Usopp shrugged, but started on one of his adventurous tales that explained my question. Halfway through though, he passed out and we moved him to his and Sanji's mat.

Usopp, down. Cause: Sake.

"To our fallen comrade!" I called dramatically.

"Kanpai!"

"To the steak!"

"Kanpai!"

Chopper set down his mug and crawled over to his and Zoro's mat.

"I'm out, I think. I can't drink any more," the little doctor said, "But remember not to drink too much! We have a big journey ahead of usszzzz."

Chopper, down. Cause: Sake.

"To reindeer!" Sanji said.

"Kanpai!"

"To us, the great and awesome pyromaniacs!" I called, slinging an arm around Ace's shoulders.

We all raised our mugs. "Kanpai!"

"To my, uh, our money!"

"Kanpai!"

"To- oh, I can't drink this. I'm going to throw up," Vivi said, clapping a hand across her mouth. She ran behind one of the rocks and we heard retching sounds. She finally came back, but instead of continuing our game, she stumbled over to the mat that she shared with Nami. She lay down and pulled the blanket over her head.

Vivi, down. Cause: Forfit.

"To princesses!"

"Kanpai!"

"To the rocks!"

"Kanpai!"

"I hate to admit it, but I'm finished. Sake should be for cooking and accompanying meals, not getting completely drunk on," Sanji said, standing up and walking over to his mat.

"Ha! Lightweight," Zoro smirked, watching Sanji.

"I would love to kick your ass right now, but it would be an unfair victory for me," Sanji replied nonchalantly, "As I see that you are too drunk to fight properly."

Zoro stood up, growling, but I grabbed his arm. "Hey, you already beat him. He gave up."

He sat back down while Sanji pouted. "Anni-chwan, don't you want to come over here and-"

"Nah, I'm gonna stay here and win!" I interrupted, taking another gulp of sake. "To the sake!"

"Kanpai!

Sanji, down. Cause: Forfit.

"To all of us!"

"Kanpai!"

"To the Going Merry!"

"Kanpai!"

"Hey, where's Luffy?" Nami asked, peering around the makeshift campsite.

I stood up and staggered over to the bag where we had put all of the leftover steak from dinner. It seemed suspiciously larger than what it had been like when it started, so I opened it carefully, in case a giant monster was going to try and eat me then barf up my bones. You know, rational fears.

As I finally uncovered the contents of the bag, I heard quiet snoring. Looking in, I saw Luffy curled up amidst the huge slabs of meat, looking very peaceful. I laughed at the sight and nearly fell over.

Looking back over my shoulder, I called, "Look! Luffy found true love!"

Everyone stumbled over to me and laughed at the scene. Eventually, we dragged him over to his mat with much difficulty regarding the sleeping forms on the ground and his death grip on a piece of steak. Needless to say, it took a while before we could pry it out of his grasp.

Luffy, down. Cause: Steak.

It was down to the four of us, Zoro, Nami, Ace, and I. None of us were planning on dropping out, and it seemed that we would run out of sake before any of us passed out. Surprisingly, a few drinks and kanpais later, a pained expression crossed Nami's face. She quickly ran to the place that Vivi had gone and similar retching sounds could be heard. I winced in sympathy, but silently rejoiced when she announced that she was going to go to sleep.

Nami, down. Cause: Forfit.

"To the desert frogs!"

"Kanpai!"

"To the fighting ninja-turtle-seals!"

"Kanpai!"

"To..."

"See, you should let us think of some cheers, Anni."

"Yeah, yours are always really weird."

"Aww..."

"Well, to the sand!"

"Kanpai!"

"To the moon!"

"Kanpai!"

"And stars!"

"Kanpai!"

We were on our last bottle when Ace's head suddenly drooped and he fell over on Zoro's shoulder, snoring. Zoro, after a moment of surprise, shook him off and Ace fell into the sand.

"You think he passed out?" Zoro asked me, refilling our mugs.

"Nah, I think he just did that random-fall-asleep-just-about-anywhere thing. I don't think that it was the sake," I answered.

"You mean narcolepsy," Zoro corrected.

"Yeah," I replied, picking up Ace's feet and dragging him to his mat where Luffy was mumbling about food.

Ace, down. Cause: Narcolepsy.

I returned to the half empty bottle of sake that looked quite friendly, but before I could refill my mug, Zoro drank the rest of it.

"Hey..." I whined, "I was gonna drink that..."

He smirked, then a thoughtful look crossed his face. "So, if there's no more sake left, who wins?" he asked.

I sighed and rubbed the back of my head. "You had the last of it, so I think you win," I replied honestly.

He grinned as I stumbled over to my mat and fell asleep in moments.

Anni, down. Cause: No more sake.

Winner: Zoro!

XxX

About ten minutes after I fell asleep, I woke up again. Rolling over, I stared at the stars twinkling down at me. I really didn't want to go to sleep. In all honesty, I was scared that the nightmares wouldn't go away, and I had arrived at the conclusion that if I didn't sleep, then I wouldn't have to live through the nightmares again.

"I don't want to go to sleep," I whispered quietly to the sky.

I heard a rustling noise to my right, from Ace and Luffy's mat. I turned my head to the side, and saw Ace staring at me. His hat and necklace were carefully laid above the head of his mat.

"What?" I asked quietly, slightly creeped out.

"Why don't you want to sleep?" he asked, at the same volume.

I turned my head back up to the sky. "I... don't want to have those nightmares again," I mumbled.

"Do you think I can do anything to help?" he asked. I glanced at him suspiciously, but all I saw was honesty.

"No, you can't," I said, rolling over and facing away from him.

There was a moment of silence, and then another rustling noise came from behind me. I inhaled sharply as a cold breeze hit my back and then a warm body rested itself against me.

"Ace, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" I whispered, trying in vain to make a little more space between us.

He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close, mumbling, "It's okay. Just go to sleep. I promise I won't do anything."

I rolled my eyes, but then shut them and tried to sleep.

_Snowflakes whirled around the white forest as I looked around. I felt frozen in place as I searched for my nakama. The branches of the white trees bent and swayed in the wind. Alone. The word that best described this situation. The icy needles bit at my skin and the wind howled through my bones, leaving me shivering and empty._

"_Hello?" I called, "Where are you?"_

_A freezing paw shoved me towards a thick patch of trees. I cautiously took a step forwards and peered around the edge of the grove, stiffening when I saw what lay behind it. Hanging by their broken necks, were my bloody, disfigured nakama._

_I opened my mouth in a silent scream, as I grasped the tree next to me for support. This was almost worse than my previous nightmares, but I remembered that I had to trust them. I shut my eyes and willed the dream to change. I believed that they wouldn't be killed in this way._

_Live._

_Live._

_Live._

_I cautiously opened one eye and stood stock still at the sight that was before me. It hadn't worked... but it was better than what had been there before. They were smiling peacefully. I felt a tear trickle down my cheek, brought forward by some unknown emotion._

I opened my eyes and the first thing that I noticed was the tears streaming down my face. I quickly brought my hand up to wipe them away, but as I did so, I felt an arm hug me gently. I flinched, but then remembered that it was Ace.

"So, do you want to talk about it?" he whispered, bringing me closer.

I shook my head. "Not really. But I did trust them, and it made it better."

I felt him smile. "That's a start. By the way... am I helping at all?" he asked semi-jokingly.

I thought about it. It was kind of nice to have someone to talk to. More importantly, my back wasn't rigid and I didn't feel too cold. I was curled up with my back to Ace and he was really, really warm. Also, it was a very pleasant feeling to know that someone was there for you.

"I guess," I replied, rolling over to face him.

He smirked. "Yeah, I figured it would." He yawned. "I'm gonna go back to sleep," he said, and within moments, his breathing was soft and regular.

I shut my eyes too, and as I drifted off to sleep, one thought wound its way to the front of my head.

_He's not wearing a shirt..._

XxX

When I woke up, I automatically rolled over to the empty warm spot on my mat. When I didn't find anyone there, I sat up and blinked blearily. It must have been mid-morning, because everyone was moving around to pack up. I stumbled over to the closest person, who happened to be Usopp.

"Uh, are we going now?" I asked, still zombie-like from sleep.

"Mm. Vivi says that Yuba is only a half days walk from here, but we should get going fast. She's kinda cranky this morning. I wonder if it had anything to do with the giant monster that I, the Great Captain Usopp-sama defeated. It was scary, but I , being the valiant and heroic pirate that I am..."

I zoned out as Usopp rambled on about a huge scaly monster that had attacked everyone in the middle of the night. I walked aimlessly around the campsite, only walking with a purpose when Nami shouted to me to pack up my stuff that was on the ground.

"Excuse me, Anni," Chopper said as I walked past him to stuff my mat and blanket into one of the bags, "But can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure," I replied, following him over to the side.

"Well," the little doctor started, "I don't know what you did, but your back seems to be better. Whatever you did last night, I would encourage you to do it again. If you don't fix this problem soon, it could end up as a permanent injury."

I sighed. Obviously, Ace must have moved before everyone woke up. Not wanting to disobey the cute reindeer, I said, "Fine. It better fix my back soon, though."

Chopper nodded and ran off to find someone else. A slight cough from the outcropping above me caused me to look up and see Ace smirking at me with an 'I heard that' look. I raised my eyebrows and walked off to join the rest of the crew who were beginning to start walking, but not before muttering, "Thanks."

A small chuckle told me that he had heard my thanks. I ran up to avoid being left behind by everyone and joined in their pointless conversations.

XxX

"Vivi, how long until we get to Yuba?"

"We will get there when we get there. Now, stop asking!"

* * *

A/N

I know some of you didn't like it, but I think that this was a pretty sweet chapter. The drinking game was so fun to write! I bet you all thought 'Oh, this is a fanfic. Of course the OC is going to win.' Nope! No one can beat Zoro! As for the fluff, I just want to say that it's not anything serious. There wasn't (and won't be any) anything other than comfort and cuddles. Aww~ That sounded way too cheesy. Blegh. Well, we're coming up to the more exciting parts! Fight, fight, fight! I watch way too much violence, don't I?

See ya!


	17. Chapter 17

A/N

I apologize that you guys had to wait for this. My real life is a little stressful and hectic right now, so for the next few weeks the updates might be irregular.

Oh, and one more little thing. From what I understand in the anime, the conversion rates from beli to dollars is about one hundred beli to a dollar (or about two hundred beli to a pound).

Enjoy!

* * *

Anni's POV

Traveling across the desert was not the most interesting thing that I'd ever done, but it had its interests at times. There was the occasional flower here and there, and we passed a few cacti. The cacti, we soon found out, were not safe to eat. Luffy had picked off a branch from one of them as we walked past, and (being surprisingly smart) plucked out the spines as we continued on. The first sign that we noticed was when he started to walk backwards. Now, while this wasn't particularly odd by his standards, it was the oohs and aahs that we started to hear.

"Ooh, the sand is getting smaller," Luffy said dazedly, looking at the receding sand dunes as he stumbled over his own feet.

I tried to turn him back around, but he spun around in a full circle and continued walking backwards. I tried again by walking behind (in front?) of him and staring right at him, but all that he did was look off into the distance and avoid me. Sighing, I reached out to grab his shoulders, only to stumble and lose my balance as he bent to one side, resembling a limp noodle.

"Nami, do you have any idea what is happening to him?" I asked, giving up on my attempts.

She rubbed at a spot between her eyes. "It's probably because of the cactus juice he drank. I'm no doctor though, you'll have to ask Chopper," she suggested, pointing to the young doctor who was once again being dragged along on a small sled by Zoro.

I skipped over to them and tapped Chopper's forehead. "Chopper, we need your help. Luffy is, well, I dunno really, but he's walking backwards and acting weird," I summarized, bending down to look at him.

"Even when you say you need my help, it doesn't make me happy, you asshole!" he said weakly. Zoro looked slightly exasperated, but dragged Chopper over to see Luffy anyways. Chopper sat up slowly and padded over to the now whistling Luffy. "Oh, yes. This isn't good," he mumbled to himself, shifting into his human-like form to examine his oblivious patient.

"What?" I asked, concerned that Luffy was going to lose the few brain cells he had left.

Chopper shrunk back down to his regular cute-sized form. "I'm afraid that I can't do anything for him at this stage. We'll just have to wait it out," he informed us.

"How long will that be?" I asked.

Chopper looked back up at Luffy. "I don't know. It could be anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours."

"Does this mean that we have to put up with this even more stupid version of Luffy until it wears off?" Zoro asked, crossing his arms.

"I hate to agree with the marimo, but this will get annoying very quickly," Sanji said, coming up behind said marimo.

"Don't call me that, lightweight love cook," Zoro snapped, laying a hand on the hilts of his katana.

Sanji's mood switched from mad to curious in an instant. "Oh yes, did Anni-chan win the drinking contest?" he asked, causing Zoro to stand there confused.

"Uh..." he started, stunned into silence by the cook's sudden change in moods.

"Nope!" I said cheerfully, bouncing up to them, "Zoro won because he took the last of the sake."

"Moss-head! You didn't leave the last bit for Anni-chan?" Sanji rounded on Zoro, mad again.

The baffled swordsman put his hands up in a show of innocence. "Hey, what else was I supposed to do with it? She was too slow to get to it!" he defended himself.

"It would have been good manners to offer the last bit to Anni-chan!" Sanji rebuked.

Zoro took a step back, unsure of whether Sanji was going to kick him or just lecture him on manners. "It was a contest! We were both trying to win! Plus, how was I supposed to know that you would have a hissy fit about it?!" he retorted.

Before they could start fighting and waste all their energy, I bounced in between them. "Come on, guys. We have bigger problems to worry about," I said, gesturing to Luffy who was currently guzzling our remaining water supply. "Oh crap! That's actually a problem!" I exclaimed, running over to stop him.

I grabbed the water bottle out of his hands and whacked him on the head with it. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?"

He blinked and reached for it again as I lifted it out of his reach, an achievement for me because I was slightly shorter than him (and as a result, everyone else).

"Aw, Anni, can I have it back?" he asked, stretching him arm out to try and retrieve the drink. I waved it around, avoiding his rubber limb.

"So, that cactus stuff finally wore off?" I asked, changing the subject and hoping to distract him.

He stopped reaching for the water bottle and grinned. "Yeah. Man, that stuff was strange. It must have been a mystery cactus because it made everything fuzzy and weird. But now I'm fine, so nothing's wrong."

I deadpanned at his stupidity. He was so optimistic about it that it was almost frustrating. One day, he was going to get his leg bitten off by a rabid bear and he was just going to shrug it off and hop along on his merry way. As it was, however, he just grinned and started walking over to Usopp.

He took a step, then paused and looked back at me over his shoulder. "I hope you get your back problem fixed soon, Anni," he said sincerely, with a surprisingly knowing look.

"No-no! It's not anything like that- I mean, I didn't even ask! It wasn't me!" I stammered in protest. I knew that Luffy could be observant at times, but it still took me by surprise that he knew about Ace coming to sleep with me.

He flashed me a silly grin. "What are you talking about? I was just saying that I hope you get better soon," he said. I could tell that he meant _'I know about it, but I won't tell anyone'_.

_Why do I get the feeling that Luffy is actually the most observant one of all of us?_

XxX

I had been walking in silence next to Nami when she suddenly smirked and moved closer to me.

"Anni?" she asked conversationally.

"Mm?"

"Which Devil Fruit did you eat?" she continued as if we were talking about the weather.

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, exactly what I said. Which Devil Fruit did you eat?" she inquired.

"Umm..." I started, "I didn't eat one. I learned my powers at an... academy." I really had, but there was a little more to the story than that and I just didn't feel like talking about it.

She nodded as if I had just proved a theory. "So that's why you can swim. I thought that it was interesting that you saved the two idiots without drowning yourself. Although, Anni, this piece of information would be better kept within the crew and whoever I deem trustworthy."

"Who you deem trustworthy? Don't I get a say in it?" I asked, pouting slightly.

"No. I don't want you to tell random people that you have superhuman abilities without eating a Devil Fruit, at least not without consulting with me first. If this information got out, then people would start to try and develop a way to do it," she stated, "And if I find out that you told someone without asking me, I'll tell _everyone_ about your yaoi books."

I held my hands up. "Nope. In fact, I'll let you tell the crew about it. And anyone else. I don't really have any desire to tell people."

She smirked. She really knew how to blackmail people. "And by the way..." she started. I desperately hoped that she didn't know about Ace. It would be a powerful bargaining chip for her, and I didn't want the crew to make a big deal of it.

She looked back over her shoulder. "Usopp, you owe me two hundred beli. Zoro, you owe me four hundred and fifty beli. Sanji-kun, you also owe me four hundred and fifty beli."

"You bet on whether I had eaten a Devil Fruit or not?!" I shouted incredulously.

"Yep!" she replied cheerfully.

"No! Not willingly!" came a scared voice from behind us.

As Nami went off to collect her earnings, I drifted to the back of our little pack. I zoned out into my own little daydreams. Daydreaming was one of my skills, as it only took imagination and the will to escape reality. As my very useful skill progressed, I could eventually walk with my eyes open and have my subconscious guide my feet while being completely unaware of anything outside my little world inside my head.

Off in my own little place of total world domination, I didn't notice the other pyromaniac of the group come back to me and repeatedly poke my arm. It wasn't until he bonked my head that I snapped out of my daze.

"Hmm? Can I help you?" I asked, swatting his arm away.

He smirked, adjusting his hat. "I was just wondering if that burned you."

"Uh, sorry? I don't understand," I said, completely lost.

He held up the hand that had been poking my arm. His finger was on fire, and from the colour of the flame, it was quite hot. He poked my arm again, and this time I could tell that his finger was burning, but it didn't hurt.

"Nope," I said, shaking my head, "Didn't hurt. What about this?"

My finger burst into flame and I gently touched his forearm. He paused for a second, but then shook his head. "I didn't feel anything. Well, it felt different from normal flames, but that's about it."

My eyes widened in surprise. "Well, what about this?" I increased the temperature about fifty degrees and touched him again.

"You're going to have to do better than that. I've never been burned," he smirked, retaliating with a poke of his own. I didn't feel any pain, so I shook my head and continued to attempt to burn him.

Our little game lasted about half an hour before I started to feel the heat of each poke. Our fingers were blue, almost white, and resembled mini welding torches. We had backed off from the rest of the group once they (Usopp in particular) had mentioned that they weren't fireproof. I could still see them walking about a half kilometer ahead of us, but they were far enough away that they wouldn't get burned.

Poke.

"Ouch..."

"Do you give up now?"

"No."

Poke.

"Ow."

"Do _you_ give up?"

"You wish."

Poke.

I flinched and drew my arm back. "Ow. That hurt."

Ace smirked and pushed up his hat. "No surprise there. If you were a normal human, you wouldn't even have an arm anymore."

"Ha! I never said that I was normal, you just assumed that I was," I laughed. My arm kind of stung by now, but I wasn't going to let Ace win. I intensified the heat of the flame on my finger and firmly poked his arm.

He gritted his teeth, but managed to smile it off. "Well, I have to admit that I never thought that someone without Devil Fruit's powers would be able to hurt me with fire. I think..." he trailed off, "Uh, where are the others?"

I looked off into the distance where they should be, and after a few moments of frantic searching, I spotted them. I jumped up onto a boulder in the sand to get a better view of them. The small group was wandering across the golden sands in a zigzag pattern, with no apparent destination.

"There they are," I pointed out, "Do you think they're lost?"

"Well, seeing as Yuba is over there," Ace started, gesturing to a small dark smudge on the horizon, "And they're going that way," he continued, motioning to the small group wandering about thirty degrees to the right, "I would say that, yes, they're lost."

I laughed. "Yup. They're lost. Do you think they realize it?"

He shook his head. "Probably not. Let's go catch up to them before they get completely turned around and end up back at the Going Merry or something."

I jumped down from the boulder, but a bright cloud caught my eye and I turned around to face a beautiful vibrant sunset. I hadn't noticed that it was that late yet, so it caught me by surprise. The undersides of the clouds shone a bright gold, while the colours of the clouds themselves ranged from blood red to gleaming orange to soft pink. I stood in awe of its beauty, completely forgetting about the rest of the group.

"Anni, are you coming?" Ace said, then caught sight of the magnificent sunset, "Wow, that's just... wow." he said, coming to stand next to me. We stood for a moment in silence, until Ace said, "Hey, you wanna know how to travel really fast on the sand?"

"Yeah!" I exclaimed attentively.

Ace took off running, then shot jets of flame from his hands, propelling him forwards at an incredible speed. I copied his actions, shouting in surprise when my feet nearly lifted off the ground. I tried to adjust my arms, but instead of going forwards, I face-planted into the sand. I sat up, spitting out dust while Ace laughed at me, so I threw sand in his face. He retaliated by kicking more sand in my face and laughing even harder. I scrambled to my feet and attempted to pull him down into the sand, but he dodged out of my grip and I stumbled over my feet. As I fell, I grabbed one of his feet and pulled him down into the sand along with me. We both lay there laughing our heads off until we remembered why we were running in the first place, and got up and started running towards the small directionless group that was my crew.

We sped off towards our nakama and caught up to them in minutes. As we were drawing nearer, I realized that I might have an issue with stopping, as evidenced by my previous fail.

"INCOMING!" I yelled, trying to stop myself as I headed like a bullet towards the shocked group. I planted my feet in the sand, but being sand, it gave way to my weight and I skidded to a stop in the middle of the group spraying sand everywhere. I stood in the middle of my sand-covered nakama looking sheepish as they glared at me and Ace bent over laughing behind me.

"Exactly what did you mean to accomplish by doing that, Anni?" Nami asked icily.

I cleared my throat. "Well, I was trying to catch up to you guys to tell you that you're going the wrong way."

Vivi checked the map and the compass, then said with a small laugh, "Actually, we are going the wrong direction. Yuba should be over there." She pointed in the direction of the now-slightly-larger small dark smudge. Nami sighed and turned to walk in the correct direction.

"By the way Anni, you now owe me eight hundred beli for covering us in sand," she said without looking back, "I started small, because this is your first offense. Next time it will be much more." she threatened.

Muttering curses, I dug around my bag for the correct amount, handing the bills to her. She smirked and pocketed the money, walking towards the faint outline of Yuba.

XxX

When we approached Yuba, it was as bad as Erumalu. There was sand covering the streets and piled up against the walls of buildings. The plants were shriveled up and dry, while the bricks of the buildings were spider-webbed with cracks. One solitary figure stood in the middle of the road, digging into the sand. Vivi covered the lower half of her face with her cloak and approached him, asking, "What happened here?"

The man raised his head slowly, leaning on his shovel for support. "Sandstorms. But no matter how terrible they get, I will keep digging Yuba out of the sand."

"That's terrible," she said, "But I heard that the rebels had a base here-"

"What do you want with them?" the man interrupted forcefully.

Vivi opened her mouth to respond, but the man continued, "They have left Yuba. The fools moved to Katorea when the water started to dry up."

"Is Katorea close to here, Vivi?" I asked.

"No," she said quietly, "It's all the way back near the port that we came to first, Nanohana."

_What? So we came all the way out here to find out that the people we're looking for moved?!_

"Vivi? Is that you, Princess Vivi?" the man asked, seeming to recognize her.

"Nonononono! Vivi isn't a princess," Luffy said, jumping in front of her.

"Yeah, she's just a regular person!" I continued, waving my arms.

"Shut up, you two!" Zoro said angrily, bonking our heads together.

The man walked cautiously up to Vivi and whispered, "Do you recognize me? I lost some weight."

Vivi's eyes shone with tears, and she replied, "Toh-Toh?"

"I still believe that the king is a wonderful person. This rebellion is sheer idiocy, and only you can save us, Princess. They are willing to lose their lives for this stupid, unproved cause, so I beg of you, stop them before the kingdom falls apart!" Toh-Toh said tears running down his face into his beard.

"Don't worry, Toh-Toh," Vivi said, a smile on her face, "I'm going to stop this rebellion, no matter what!"

"Thank you, I will help you in any way that I can!" Toh-Toh replied enthusiastically.

Right on cue, Usopp and Chopper yawned enormously. Seeing them, I yawned too, tired after the long trek across the desert.

"Well, it seems that I can help right now! Yuba is well-known for it's hospitality, so I shall get you a place to stay right away!" Toh-Toh offered.

"Thank you, that would be wonderful," Vivi replied.

In no time at all, the nine of us were ushered into a room with five bunk beds. After many pillow fights, we decided to keep with the same groupings as last night. Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and Vivi took the top bunks, while Ace, Sanji, Zoro, Nami, and I took the lower ones. Most of us were asleep within minutes. The room was filled with gentle breathing and some quiet snores, when a slight creak woke me up out of my dazed state.

Opening my eyes a slit, I watched Luffy climb down from his bunk and silently make his way outside to where Toh-Toh was still digging for water. I shut my eyes again, only to reopen them when another soft squeak came from that direction. A dark silhouette stood next to me, not making any move.

"Do you mind?" Ace's voice drifted softly from the silhouette.

I rolled over to look up at him. "Mind what?" I asked.

"Chopper said it would help your back if we did the same thing, so..." he trailed off, sounding unsure of how to phrase his question.

"I don't mind. Thanks for asking, though," I whispered, rolling over to face the wall. "But only if you move before everyone else wakes up. It would be weird trying to explain this."

"Not really," he mumbled, slipping between the covers, "I'm just trying to help you with your nightmares."

"Mmhm, sure," I muttered sarcastically as he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me close.

He chuckled softly, "Well, I did ask. And you agreed, so you must like it too."

I didn't answer, instead, I closed my eyes and fell into a nightmare-free sleep consisting of a wonderful dream where I killed Fluffy in many different ways.

XxX

Nami's voice pierced through my head, waking me up.

"What the hell are you two doing?!"

* * *

A/N

Ooh, what happened? I wonder if they found out about Ace and Anni (well, not really, but you do!). I dunno what else to say other than due to my insane life I've been trying to find time to write, but I haven't been very successful. I hope that in a few weeks I will get back to normal, but until then, I have no idea what will happen. I have NOT abandoned the story, nor am I planning to.

See ya!


	18. Chapter 18: Rain Dinners

A/N

I'm baaaaack! I didn't poof out of existence!

Thank you sooo much for being patient with me. I am finally done my exams and I'm finally on summer vacation! To all of you on vacation, have fun! And to those of you who are not, you're almost there!

And also, I changed how the casino (Rain Dinners) looks a bit. It has more levels and a staircase on the side of the casino room. Why? Because I can. ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the references to Avatar: the Last Airbender.

Enjoy!

* * *

Anni's POV

Nami's voice pierced through my head, waking me up.

"What the hell are you two doing?!"

I shot up from my bed, excuse ready, when I saw Nami stomp across the room towards Sanji and Zoro, who were in the middle of an argument over the breakfast that Sanji had prepared and Zoro had nearly knocked over. I sighed in relief, flopping back down on my pillow. I turned my head towards Ace's bed, where he lay smirking at me, and rolled my eyes.

I rolled over to stare at the bottom of the bunk above me. Closing my eyes, I tried to get a few moments more of sleep. I was just about to drift off into another dream when I felt a poke in my side. I grumbled and rolled away from the poker, but my attempts were unsuccessful.

"Anni, get up and eat," Nami instructed, done with lecturing Sanji and Zoro.

I pulled my blanket over my head, mumbling, "Not today..."

She was silent for a moment, so I peeked out and saw a vein twitch under her eye. "Anni..." she warned, an overly friendly smile on her face.

At the sight of that expression I was out of bed and eating enthusiastically in less than a minute. As I shoveled food into my mouth, Chopper and Usopp both sat down next to me rubbing their eyes and yawning. The door banged open and Luffy came flying inside yelling, "FOOD!"

"G'mornin," Usopp mumbled through a mouthful of toast, trying to avoid the enthusiastic crumbs flying everywhere.

Chopper yawned widely, standing in his seat to reach for a small pot of strawberry jam. A thought suddenly struck me.

"Hey, if Yuba's abandoned, where did all of this food come from?" I asked no one in particular.

"None of it is fresh," said a voice from behind me, "And it's slowly running out."

Toh-Toh came to sit down across the table from me. "When the rebels moved their base, they missed a small storehouse full of food on their way out," he explained, "It was all preserved, and with only me here to feed, it should last for a while. There is also a small amount in the houses, but most of that has spoiled in the heat."

"Oh, okay. But what happens when the food runs out?" I asked.

Toh-Toh looked down. "Hopefully the rebellion will have stopped by that time. If the worst happens, I can always hope for travelers to come along."

"But isn't there a city around here with food? I mean, if no one comes you have to go _somewhere_, right?" I inquired.

"Hmmm..." the old man thought, "If I had to move to a city, I could go to Rainbase. It's closest. But..." he trailed off, looking grim.

"But?" I continued.

"Rainbase is where Crocodile lives," he finished bluntly.

I went silent, along with the others who had been listening to our conversation. Chopper's strawberry jam-covered knife clattered onto his plate. There was a small '_shhnk_' as Zoro sheathed his swords. Vivi put a hand on Nami's shoulder to steady herself.

"Crocodile lives that close?" Sanji asked.

Toh-Toh waited a moment before answering. "I don't know for sure where he his, but I've heard that he lives in a casino called Rain Dinners in Rainbase. If I was looking for him I would go there first."

The room, still silent, watched as Luffy walked over to Vivi, who looked stunned. "Where do you think would be better to go? Rainbase, or Katorea?"

Vivi let go of Nami and clutched the sides of her cloak. "I... I don't know..."

"We're fine either way," I offered.

"But..." Vivi's voice sounded shaky. She looked indecisive and verging on hysterical. "But I want to..."

Luffy took another step forwards. "What do you want to do?"

"I-I want... I don't... want to..." she blinked back tears. I looked on, wanting to go comfort her, but I knew that Luffy was more than capable of handling the situation. I just wondered why he was doing it like that.

"Vivi... You need to trust us," the captain said, "Or we'll get nowhere."

I was shocked. Vivi didn't trust us? No, that wasn't it. She wanted to do everything by herself because she didn't want anyone else to get hurt.

"But I don't want you to die for me," Vivi whispered, sinking into a chair next to the wall.

"That's what I mean. You must trust us to not die," Luffy said.

She nodded slowly. "I can do that."

Sensing that it was okay for me to intervene, I went up and stood beside Luffy. The other five crew members plus Ace came to stand next to us in a show of unification. We would all help, and none of us would die fighting.

"Hey, I have an idea," Ace said. We all turned around to look at him as he continued, "We could split up and half of us go to Rainbase and the other half go to Katorea."

"That's actually a good idea," Zoro commented.

All of the crew members pondered this idea. It seemed like a good one. If some of us went to go beat up Crocodile while Vivi took the rest of us and went to Katorea to stop the rebels.

"But what if the rebels have already moved to Alubarna?" Sanji asked, lighting his cigarette, "It would seem like now would be the time that they would move and attack. I think that half of us should go to Alubarna instead of Katorea."

"Yeah, but what if they see Vivi come to the city?" Usopp wondered.

I was confused by that. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if the rebels see Vivi coming into the city, then they'll fire. If we had some kind of camouflage, then maybe they wouldn't know which one of us is Vivi, right?" Usopp explained.

"That could work, but what then? Once we get into the city?" I asked.

"We stop the rebellion."

Vivi stood up, determined. She pointed to each of us in turn, saying either 'Rainbase' or 'Alubarna'. Finally, the two groups stood separately on each side of the room. Luffy, Sanji, Ace, and I were going to face Crocodile at Rainbase, while Zoro, Usopp, Chopper, Nami, and Vivi were going to Alubarna. It seemed like the most effective split, as we would need much of our strength to go to stopping the rebellion, even though we didn't know Crocodile's full power. Plus, he might not even be there, and we wouldn't want to waste most of our strength.

Our only problems with the groups came from Sanji and Zoro. Sanji desperately wanted to go with Nami and Vivi, although we got him to stop complaining once he saw that I was in his group.

Zoro also wanted to switch groups so that he could get a shot at beating up Crocodile. He still wanted to switch, but we told him that the Baroque Works agents could be at Alubarna, so he quit grumbling.

We divided our supplies proportionally and got ready at the edge of the town. Toh-Toh came out to see us off. He handed Luffy a small flask of water from the hole that they had dug.

The two groups looked at each other, and with an enthusiastic "Yosha!" from Luffy, set off on their separate paths.

"Wait! Remember about the arm bands if you're not sure that one of us is real!" I called after them, hoping they could hear me.

XxX

"There's sand in my shoe..."

"I'll carry you, Anni-chwan!"

"I'm hungry..."

"Why are the supplies so heavy if they're only half of what we have?"

I sighed, taking off my shoe to shake out the sand. I was originally excited about seeing a desert, but by now, I was starting to feel a bit worn out. There was only so much you could do to entertain yourself in a desert.

As I walked, I scooped up a handful of sand and let it fall between my fingers. It tickled. Scooping up another, I slowly heated my hand up until the sand particles melted together, the blew on it to cool it off. It wasn't clear, but if you squinted hard enough, there were parts where the sand was less opaque.

"Hey, look!" I laughed, showing off the heavy lump of solid sand.

The three boys stared at it for a long time. I could almost hear the wheels turning in their heads until Luffy said, "What is it?"

Sanji swatted him. "That was an insult to Anni-chan! She obviously put a lot of effort into making this... um..." he waved his hands about trying to think of a word to describe it, settling on, "Thing."

"I melted the sand. It's kinda like glass," I informed them.

Ace picked up a handful of sand and tried it himself, but it dripped out of his hand. It cooled as it fell though, so it ended up looking really neat. Luffy's eyes bugged out as he watched.

"Awesome! Can I try?" he said as he scooped up some sand and stared at it.

As Ace lectured his brother, Sanji knelt down and drew a short squiggly line in the sand. Looking up at me, he said, "Do you think you could use this as a mold?"

I sat down beside him and tried to pour some of the molten sand into the makeshift mold. The liquid sand poured out of my hands and went along the outline of the mold. When I picked it up, a bunch of the sand particles from the desert stuck to the liquid. I brushed them off, and it was left with a bumpy finish.

I frowned at it. "Well that didn't really work."

Sanji put an arm around my shoulders, saying, "Don't pout, my lovely flower! You will perfect it someday."

I noticed that Sanji's arm was migrating south, and I was relieved when I heard Ace's voice call, "Come on! We need to get to Rainbase!"

"Yeah, let's go, Sanji," I exclaimed, jumping up and running over to the two brothers. The four of us walked in silence for a while. I tried to make figures out of the sand, but I wasn't very good at it. Over the course of about an hour, I managed to create an accurate representation of Luffy, complete with all four limbs stretched out and looking kind of droopy as they dripped off the side of my hand.

It got ichy, so I tried in vain to shake off the glass, but it was firmly stuck on my hand. I pulled at it with my other hand. Just as my skin was about to rip off, I heard a panicked yell.

Luffy, with a piece of cactus in his hand, pointed to my hand and shouted, "The sand is eating Anni's hand! Use an axe! Quick, Sanji, make a cake!"

Sanji grabbed the cactus out of the captain's hand. "Why did you eat this? Last time you did this, you drank all of our water!"

"Thirsty..." Luffy moaned, switching moods and drooping over tiredly.

The cook looked closely at the cactus before throwing it over his shoulder. "This won't quench your thirst. It isn't even nutritious," he said.

Luffy dived for the cactus and grabbed it before it hit the ground. He jumped up and posed, holding the cactus high in the air.

"It'll quench ya! It's the quenchiest!" he announced like he was advertising it. His head snapped around and he pointed off in the distance. "Look! A giant golden crocodile! Maybe it's friendly! Hellooo... Can you hear me?" He started waving his arms around in the air, looking like a giant noodle.

I shaded my eyes with my hand and squinted in the direction that he was pointing. Sure enough, there was a huge golden pyramid with a giant golden crocodile perched on top of it.

"Is that Rainbase?" Ace asked. His eyebrows nearly reached his hat as he stared at it. He dropped the rope that was connected to the sled of supplies that he was dragging. Sanji's cigarette fell out of his mouth as he gaped in awe. Luffy started spinning in circles as he did his noodle dance.

"Well, ya think anyone we know lives there?" I asked rhetorically. I was shocked at the sheer amount of wealth that was on display. I mean, who has so much money that they could build a gold pyramid and put a gold crocodile on the top? Not to mention what could be inside! Definitely not me.

"Hmm, if I had to guess, I'd say that this is Nami's future playhouse."

I laughed at Ace's joke. I could picture Nami swimming in gold and having a castle twice the size of this. I suddenly had a chilling feeling that Nami knew exactly what I was thinking and would fine me for it. I shuddered and started walking towards the city, grabbing Luffy's arm as I went. The other two followed after a moment more of admiration.

XxX

As we neared the city, the cactus juice wore off Luffy and was replaced with the smell of barbecued food. At the edge of the city we found a small group of palm trees to leave the supplies in. Continuing into Rainbase, Sanji and I had to hold Luffy back from rampaging through the restaurants.

We eventually reached the base of the pyramid. I looked up and saw a sign saying 'Rain Dinners Casino'. Surrounding the casino was a deep pool filled with huge crocodiles. The look in their eyes just screamed murder as they eyed up the fancy people walking along the bridge to the casino.

"What's the plan?" I asked quietly as we walked over the bridge. The people around us wore fancy clothes with excessive accessories. One lady in particular carried a shoulder bag with jewels stitched into the pattern of a face of a chihuahua. The small dog was riding in the bag looking quite smug.

"We go in and kick Crocodile's ass," Luffy declared, thumping one fist into his open hand.

"No, baka. We should be in teams of two," Sanji suggested, "The four of us go in, and we each explore one side of the casino. If Crocodile is here, then he's most likely in some kind of secret room."

"I think that the best division of fire-power," I snickered at my own joke, "Would be if Ace went with Luffy and I went with Sanji. That way, each team has one hand-to-hand -or foot- fighter and one pyromaniac. What do you think?"

The three nodded. We approached the doors with Ace and Sanji in front. As we walked past the man at the entrance, he put a hand out in front of me and Luffy. All four of us stopped, unsure of what he was doing.

"I'm sorry, but _you two_," he indicated to Luffy and I, "May _not_ enter. There is an age limit of _eighteen_, so as to discourage _young citizens _who could form an addiction to gambling," he said with a forced smile and obviously rehearsed words.

"Aw," I said, and reached up to hug the two who were allowed to enter, whispering, "We'll meet you inside, wherever the bar is, 'kay?"

Ace and Sanji walked into the casino, as Luffy and I made our way to one side of the pyramid. I noticed a set of big, ornate windows about two stories above the ground floor and pointed them out to Luffy after making sure that no one was staring at us.

"Can we get up there?" I asked.

Luffy grabbed me with his left arm and shot his right up to the windowsill. He caught on and went flying up, dragging me behind.

The glass shattered as we crashed through it into a lavishly decorated room. Fortunately it was empty, and no one had seen us, or else we would have had a problem. The one drunk person who was outside yelling, 'There were two of them! The guy's arm stretched out and they broke through the window! I swear!' was being politely escorted out over the bridge.

I stood up and took in the room with a whistle. There were paintings of Crocodile himself on every wall, all in golden frames set against off-white walls. The blood red curtains were edged with gold rope. On the intricate drawers, glass vases were filled with every colour of gem I could imagine. The handwoven carpet was a detailed garden of flowers on a dark wooden floor.

"Woah, how much do you think we could get if we sold this entire room?" I asked Luffy, who was also admiring the room.

"Shishishi~, you sound like Nami," he laughed.

"Imagine if Nami were here. I bet the room would be cleaned out and her pockets would be huge," I covered my mouth with my hand to keep from attracting the attention of the entire casino through my laughter.

Luffy walked towards the door and tried the handle. It opened silently into a hallway that was just as decorated as the room. Sounds of laughter and talking drifted up from the end of the hall where it turned onto a set of curved stairs that led into the casino.

Just as I took a step out of the door, a sparkle caught my eye. I looked back into the room and saw one of the jewels glinting in the light. I was reminded of Nami's hair by it's orange colour, then I realized that maybe I could give it to her to repay my future debts.

I reached down into the glass vase it was in and pulled it out. Dropping it into a pocket in my bag, I stared at the other multicoloured jewels. My weakness for sparkly things got the best of me, and, being the slightly less-than-honest pirate that I was, I grabbed a big handful of them and shoved them in my pocket.

I ran to catch up with Luffy, who was crouching at the top of the stairs. He was being oddly careful, so I peered around the corner. On the stairs was a man who had obviously had too much to drink. He looked slightly overweight and was much taller than either me or Luffy. He seemed to be a pirate from the shape of hat perched on his long black curly hair, and he wore a red jacket. His laughter could probably be contributed to the mug of sake in his hand, or the pie in the other.

"Should we wait until he leaves, or sneak around him? Shishishi~ I'm not good at sneaking," Luffy whispered.

"Uh, let's try sneaking around, because drunk people don't tend to move," I replied. We got up and tiptoed around the man on his left as he took a drink from his mug. However, before we could run down into the casino area, he lowered his mug and belched.

We froze as he noticed us.

"Ya know what sucks?" he slurred drunkenly, "They don't have cherry pie. I had to get this crap instead!"

I stared at Luffy and he blinked back. I sensed something off about the man, but I turned to the drunk, and said, "That's nice. I'm sure you'll get your pie, but for now, we have to go, alright?"

"Wait," he squinted. Luffy turned to scan the crowd for Ace and Sanji as the drunk studied my face, "You're that... pry-o... pie row... may-nee-ack, right? The, uh, the one that-"

I cut him off. "Yeah, uh, we have to go now, so if you don't mind, we'll be leaving."

From experience, I knew that drunk people tended to get angry easily, so it was best to be polite.

"No, wait," he said through a bite of pie as he tipped over to one side, "Ya gotta tell the people that it's me! But not the people that are looking for me, just the people that I'm looking for. Those people -the other ones- are nasty. But the others are good... even though they didn't do the pie dance... or maybe they will..."

As I struggled to decipher that speech, Luffy jumped over the railing of the stairs. He had spotted Ace and Sanji, who were laughing with drinks in their hands. I was about to follow, but the drunk's hand grabbed my foot.

"Your friend over there," he said darkly, tilting his head in the direction of my nakama at the bar, "Has a fiery temper. I wouldn't trust him. But that's just my opinion," he said, reverting back to drunk mode.

Now thoroughly creeped out, I speed-walked down the remaining stairs and made my way through the many people to my nakama.

_What the hell was that? Who was that guy? And was he talking about Ace? How does he know him? Why wouldn't I trust Ace? Geez, too many questions. But I did feel something very off about that man. Something _very_ off._

As I approached the bar, the three boys stood up. Sanji indicated the one exit in the center of the far wall. It had a red carpet lined with ropes leading up to it, so I assumed that it was where Crocodile's secret room was. It split into two hallways, so Ace and Luffy would go in the left hallway while Sanji and I would take the right.

We split up, Ace and Luffy walking along the left side of the carpet, and Sanji and I walking along the right. Once near the doorway, we discreetly walked over the ropes and each ducked into our respective hallways.

"Good luck," I whispered.

The hallway that Sanji and I had entered was not very long and filled with doors. Each door looked quite different. For example, one had dirt coming out from beneath the door, while another was covered with spider-webs. I was not going to enter that room for any reason.

After peeking in every room, we concluded that none of the doors looked like they would be good for a secret room for a Shichibukai. At the end of the hallway, it split. One hallway led to a stairway, while the other had more doors.

"Do you want to split up, or stay together?" I asked Sanji.

"I would stay with you forever, Anni-chan," he replied enthusiastically, "But for the sake of time I would recommend that we split up. I will see what is at the end of this staircase, while you look in these rooms."

I nodded. "Okay, but if you run into anybody, come back."

He nodded and started up the stairs. I opened the door to the first room and stepped in. I was so fascinated with the array of knives and swords that were in the room that I didn't check for people.

Crashing and yelling sounds came from the direction that Ace and Luffy went, so I spun around to go check on them – only to run into a rock-hard person. Blinking, I stepped back and rubbed my nose.

I looked up to apologize to who I assumed was Sanji, but a hand covered my eyes and a sharp pain hit my neck.

Before I fell unconscious, I muttered, "You're not Sanji..."

* * *

A/N

Ooo, I wonder who the mysterious people are...

The story is going a little off from canon, but it's okay, right? Also, I _should_ be back to a weekly schedule if all goes well. Tell me what you think of the chapter now, and what you think was going through the mysterious pie-lover's head.

See ya and have a great summer!


	19. Chapter 19: Escape

A/N

I'm going on holiday for the next three weeks, but I'll try my best to be writing. Probably during the three day car trip. *sigh*

Enjoy!

* * *

Anni's POV

My eyes fluttered open and I sat up, rubbing my neck. I immediately took in my surroundings. I was in a large cage with Luffy, Ace, and... wait, was that the guy who we ran into back in Nanohana? He had the same grey hair and outfit, and he was holding the same dark weapon. Maybe he was the one who captured us. But no, he was in the cage with us, so he must have been caught by the same person.

"How did you guys get caught?" I asked, standing up and leaning against the wall.

Luffy scratched the back of his head and laughed, "I don't really know! One minute we were walking around, and the next, we were in this cage! This weird lady was there too with some kind of rock. I think she must have caught us."

I shrugged. "Well, I got caught by this guy in a room with lots of knives. It was cool, but kinda creepy at the same time. Anyways, let's get out of here," I said, readying my fist to break through the bars.

Luffy beat me to it. He punched the bars so hard that the ground shook. A moment later, his energy kind of fizzled out and he stood there slouched with one arm touching the bars.

"I... I have no more energy. What's wrong?" He asked slowly.

Ace went up and touched the bars quickly. Shaking his hand like it gave him an electric shock, he said, "It's a rock called Kairoseki. It imitates the power of the sea and stops Devil's Fruit users from using their powers when they're touching it."

I pulled Luffy back from the bars and walked up to them. I placed my hand on them gently. I felt a slight numbness in my hand, along with the faint sensation of being just under the surface of the water and running out of air. I whipped my hand away in panic.

"That's crazy! How... What... It-it feels like I'm drowning!" I said in shock. I drew back my fist and punched the rock like Luffy did, but instead of stopping, the bar cracked under the impact. For another test, my hand burst into flame and I touched the bar. The flame flickered, but didn't go out.

"That's strange, it didn't have the same affect on you that it did on Luffy and I. Anni, you ate a Devil's Fruit, right?" Ace asked with confusion written all over his face.

"Well, you see-" I broke off. The grey-haired man sitting in the corner was watching us intently. I remembered Nami's warning to not tell anyone about my special situation, so I said, "Yeah, um, about that, I almost drowned when I was younger, so I guess that this stuff made me think of that," I laughed nervously, avoiding the question.

Luffy had lost interest in our conversation, and was trying to see out of the cage into the giant room that surrounded us. I went back to my original spot on the floor and leaned back on the wall. Ace came to sit down next to me and whispered, "So I'm guessing that you didn't really eat a Devil's Fruit."

I looked away and nodded almost imperceptibly.

He chuckled. "That's what I thought. I was amazed that your powers were almost identical to mine, and I was wondering how two Devil's Fruits could be so similar."

"Well, I'll get into more detail later, but I was brought up in an Academy where I... I guess you could say that I learned my powers there," I explained.

"I've never heard of someone having these kinds of abilities without eating a Devil's Fruit. Was this Academy on the Grand Line, or in one of the big seas?" he asked, lowering his voice until I could barely hear it.

"...I'll tell you later," I whispered back, then Nami's warning hit me, "Ah!" I gasped.

"What?" Ace said in surprise.

"Nami's gonna kill me..." I moaned.

He smirked. "Now why would that be?"

"Because I told you about my powers, and she specifically said to not tell anyone unless she was there," I stated.

"Well, if we don't tell her, she'll never know." he reasoned.

"Trust me, she will."

~Far away, heading towards the city of Alubarna, Nami sneezed.~

"Hey, who's that?" Luffy pointed across the room, where a figure was walking down the stairs.

The figure reached the midpoint in the stairs and stopped. Its long cloak suddenly billowed around in an unseen wind. The figure dissolved into a stream of sand that swept through the room and collected in the middle to reform itself.

I rushed to the front of the cage, as close to the bars as I could get to get a good look at the man. His black hair was slicked back from his face, which bore a long scar across the nose. He wore a long fur-trimmed cloak and the smell of smoke drifted through the room from the cigar that he held in his mouth. What got my attention, however, was the gold hook that replaced his left hand.

He slowly walked up to the cage. The smell of smoke grew stronger.

"Mugiwara crew. You are the ones assisting Princess Vivi, are you not?" he said it more like a statement.

"You know Vivi?" Luffy asked as he came up to stand next to me. I could tell that he didn't like the look of this man. Neither did I.

"Yes, I believe that you also know me. I am Crocodile," he revealed, "The head of Baroque Works."

The grey-haired man at the back of the cage lifted his head. "Crocodile. I don't care if you're a Shichibukai, I will arrest you for this when I get out of here."

"Oh yeah, I forgot you were here. Who are you, by the way?" I asked. The man's eye twitched and he turned back to Crocodile.

I leaned over to Ace and whispered, "Who is that?"

"His name is Smoker, and he's a captain in the Marines," Ace whispered back.

I nodded and turned my attention back to Crocodile, who was having a passive-aggressive argument with Smoker. The argument was suddenly interrupted by the ringing of a Den Den Mushi.

"Puru puru puru... Puru puru puru..."

Crocodile swept over to the table it rested on, and picked up the receiver.

"This is Crocodile," he growled.

The person on the other line sounded calm as he talked to Crocodile. The Shichibukai, however, got red in the face at the sound of the voice. As they kept talking, Crocodile's hand shook as he gripped the table.

Eventually, Crocodile slammed down the receiver. Scowling, he glared at the Den Den Mushi and placed his only hand on it. To my surprise, it shriveled up under his stare and turned a sickly pale colour.

He turned his murderous glare to us. "I will be leaving now to go help the rebellion in Alubarna after destroying a certain _someone_. You will never see me again, because you will drown in this place in half an hour." he said.

He pushed a button, and the floor opened up. With another push, water started to pour up through the floor.

"Woah, how did you do that?!" I asked in admiration.

"Do what?" Crocodile growled, glaring at me.

"Do the death-glare-dry-up-snail-zappy thing!" I exclaimed, waving my hands around as if it helped my explanation.

He chuckled darkly. "That was the power of the Suna Suna Fruit. I can drain the water from anything I touch. Now that you know that, you can die in fear of my greatness!" he declared.

He then dissolved into sand and swept up the staircase, leaving us with the rising water.

"This is bad," Luffy noted, shooting his hand through the bars towards the table. Searching around, he found a ring of keys. He grabbed hold of the them and pulled them back towards the cage. As he was pulling them over the hole in the floor, his arm touched the Kairoseki and he dropped the keys into the rapidly rising water.

The keys now gone, we had to find another way out. There was no time to try and retrieve them from the water. The giant crocodiles were swimming around outside the windows and below the floor, waiting for a chance to get in and eat us.

We had to get out fast, because I was the only one who could swim among the four of us. My fist flared up and I hit the Kairoseki as hard as I could. The existing cracks lengthened, and small chunks fell off. One more punch and it shattered.

As an afterthought, I picked up a fist sized piece of the Kairoseki and dropped it into my bag. It could come in useful when fighting Devil's Fruit users.

"Come on! Up the stairs!" I cried, pointing towards the huge set of polished stairs. We splashed through the knee deep water, but just as we were almost there, a burst of water shot through the floor, followed by one of the enormous crocodiles.

It flew over our heads and landed on the stairs, smashing the lower half of them. It turned to us and licked its lips.

Luffy's eyes sparkled. "Woah! A huge banana!" he gushed in amazement.

It did have a striking resemblance to a banana, so he wasn't totally off. I could see how someone like Luffy could get them mixed up.

Suddenly, the ground began to tremble. I looked out the window past the crocodiles to see the bridge collapsing.

"The bridge is falling. We have to get out fast," I called.

The crocodile lunged at me, but before it could strike, two weak attacks of fire and rubber hit its head. Distracted by the sudden interference, it shook its head. Looking to Ace and Luffy, I could tell that the two of them were losing strength fast in the waist deep water.

Mustering up my strength, I sent I fireball straight towards the crocodile. It hit him right between the eyes and flared up, temporarily blinding him. I grabbed Luffy and Ace and ran up the tail of the beast. Once up on its back, I leaped onto the stairs.

Suddenly, I heard a smash from behind me. Looking back, I saw that the crocodile had regained its eyesight and was furious. It lashed out at the stairs, carving huge paw marks into the stone.

I readjusted my nakama on my shoulders and ran towards the top. I dodged the flying stones with miraculous luck until, just at the top, one hit the back of my knee and sent me sprawling.

"Anni-chan?!" came a surprised voice from in front of me.

"Sanji!" I gasped in relief. I pointed to Ace and Luffy who were out cold and briefly explained what had happened. It turned out that Sanji was the one who had called Crocodile's Den Den Mushi to lure him out, and he was also the one who sent the bridge to the bottom of the lake so that the Baroque Works members couldn't get in.

After the rushed explanations, I grabbed Luffy while Sanji grabbed Ace. We sprinted to the exit and ran across the railing that was all that remained of the bridge.

As we laid them down on the road, Luffy coughed and said weakly, "What about the Smoker guy?"

"We.. uh, I left him back there," I answered honestly.

Luffy coughed up more water. "Go get him too. He has a Devil's Fruit ability, so he can't swim."

"But-" I protested, but Luffy raised his hand. I sighed. "Okay. I'll get him."

Sanji reached out a hand to try and stop me, but I took off towards the crumbling casino. I ran through the chaotic hallways until I reached the huge room.

I scanned the waves for the grey-haired marine. There. He was drifting towards a broken window.

I sprinted down the stairs and leaped off the back of the crocodile that was still at the bottom of the stairs. The water was up to my neck, so I propelled myself with jets of fire shooting out from my feet.

I grabbed the marine as I passed him and rocketed out of the broken window. The glass scraped my forearm, but I dismissed it as a scratch. We shot through the water and burst up onto the side of the road to many shouts of surprise.

"Smoker-san!" The relieved shout came from a young-looking purple-haired marine.

I put Smoker down on the road and heated myself up to dry off my clothes. Immediately, I was enveloped in a tight hug.

"Anni-chwaaaan~! For a moment you looked like a lovely mermaid leaping out of the water! Your beauty is unparalleled by any other lady!" Sanji exclaimed, letting go and twirling around.

As Sanji continued to 'spout nonsense' as Nami would say, Luffy and Ace stumbled to their feet.

"Thanks. We wouldn't have gotten out back there without help," Ace grinned.

"Yeah! We would have drowned!" Luffy laughed.

I scratched the back of my head. "Well, even if I wasn't there, I'm sure Sanji would have gotten you," I said, unused to praise.

"Mugiwara," came a low voice from behind me. I turned to see Smoker sitting on a short wall, "I seem to have underestimated you. As thanks for saving me, I won't arrest you today."

"Shishishi~" Luffy laughed, "Okay!"

"Sanji?" I asked, "Where did Crocodile go to kill you?"

He scratched the back of his head nervously. "I'm not sure. I told him that I was behind the casino. We should go before he comes after us."

"But weren't we here to defeat him?" I asked.

We started walking in the direction of our supplies as the crowd started to disperse.

"Yes, but we need to go and meet up with the rest of the crew. Ace and Luffy are still recovering from the water and the Kairoseki, and I'm sure that a delicate lady like you needs to rest after such an event," Sanji said, "I also think that it would be better to consult with the entire crew on this matter."

"Okay." I nodded.

Suddenly, Crocodile's voice rang out in my head.

_'I will be leaving now to go help the rebellion in Alubarna'_

I gasped. "Actually, we need to leave now! Crocodile is going to Alubarna to help the rebellion!"

"That's where Nami-san and Vivi-chan are!" Sanji exclaimed, "Oh, and the rest of them," he added.

The four of us walked to the small grove of trees to recover our supplies, only to find that most of the sled was destroyed. Food was scattered everywhere and most of it was missing. Luffy picked up the water jug that Toh-Toh had given him and hung it around his neck.

We searched the place for anything that was vital to survive the journey to Alubarna, such as water and food. Then, we headed out into the desert to start our umpteenth trudge through the hot sand.

We were about halfway to Alubarna when we ran into trouble. A flurry of sand surrounded us, and when it cleared, Crocodile stood before us. Luffy stepped forwards and put a hand out.

"I'll deal with him. You guys go on ahead!" Luffy declared, moving into a ready stance.

I looked to the other two, who had the same expression of worry.

"Luffy, are you sure?" I asked, concerned.

"Yes," he said, determined, "Go!"

I stood on my tiptoes to whisper something in Ace's ear. He grinned and said, "Let's go!"

Ace and I ran on either side of Crocodile, igniting our fists. We slammed them into his shoulders, melting the sand that his body was made of. Sanji followed up with a kick that shattered them both.

Crocodile shouted in pain and readied himself for a counter attack, but the three of us were running away at full speed.

"Luffy! We'll leave this to you!" Ace yelled to his little brother.

"See you in Alubarna!" I waved.

"Be careful!" Sanji shouted.

Luffy threw a fist in the air and yelled, "I'll see you guys there!"

_I just hope he'll be alright._

XxX

An hour later we stood at the foot of the wall surrounding Alubarna. Sounds of fighting and clashing swords rang out from the city. Screams of pain and terror mixed in with triumphant yells and insults. Gunshots and cannon shots blasted through the chaos.

Ace, Sanji, and I formed a plan within seconds. Sanji and I would go into the city and look for our nakama while Ace would scout around the outer wall to see if anyone was out there. Unless something changed, we would try to stop the fighting and bring the crew together into the center plaza.

Wishing Ace good luck, Sanji and I ran into the city and went our separate ways. As I searched for familiar faces in the streets, I broke swords and melted guns regardless of the side they were on. Hell, I couldn't even tell with half of these people!

I ran and ran and eventually found myself in the back streets. The buildings were smaller and more spaced out, but the streets were dustier.

Suddenly, a crash came from a street near me. I ran around the corner to see Nami scrambling away from a hole in one of the houses. She almost got to her feet, but a dark blue arrow-like thing shot out and caught her shoulder before retracting back through the wall. Nami collapsed on the ground with a scream.

Before I could help her up, a lady stepped out of the hole and giggled sadistically. She had huge blue hair and wore black leggings with spiky high heels. I was amazed that she could balance on them. She wore a small fur-trimmed jacket over a bikini top that reminded me of a spider-web. Ugh, and that monstrous Fluffy was still on the Merry.

The lady pointed a finger at me that grew longer and sharper like a thorn. My eyes widened and I tensed in anticipation. However, instead of attacking me, she walked up to Nami and drew her hand back.

I rushed towards her just as she plunged her hand down. I knocked away the thorn and used the momentum to spin around and punch the woman in the stomach. She crashed into the wall with a yelp and fell still.

I offered my hand to Nami. "Can you stand up?"

She took my hand and stumbled to her feet. She thanked me and briefly explained the situation. The lady was Mrs. Doublefinger, an agent of Baroque works. She ate the Toge Toge Fruit, which allowed her to turn any part of her body into a thorn-like weapon.

Nami leaned heavily on my shoulder and I guided her to a box that she could sit on.

"My Clima Tact," she breathed heavily, "Can you get it for me?"

Puzzled, I followed her finger to the hole in the wall. I walked across the road and leaned over to see if anything was there. Looking around, I spotted three short blue metal staffs that looked as if they could fit together.

I picked them up and was about to turn and ask if they were the Clima Tact, when Nami screamed. I whirled around to see what was the matter, but instead I was met with a stabbing pain in my gut. I yelled in pain and grabbed at whatever stabbed me, ripping it out.

I fell to the ground and rolled away, but another one stabbed my thigh. I pulled it out, breathing hard. Putting a hand over my bleeding gut wound, I stumbled to my feet using the wall as a support.

Blue hair grinned down at me as I struggled. Mrs. Doublefinger jabbed her long fingers into the stone wall around me. I tried to wriggle out of the small cage, but she put a finger to my throat. I dropped the Clima Tact and it rolled out into the street.

"Isn't it wonderful when they squirm?" she purred, dragging her finger across my skin and leaving a shallow cut.

Behind her, Nami, holding her shoulder, crept out and grabbed one of the parts of her Clima Tact. She drew her arm back and prepared to hit Mrs. Doublefinger over the head with it, but the thorn lady turned halfway around and pointed a sharp finger at Nami.

"Sit down on on of those boxes, musume-chan," she ordered. Then, turning to me, she giggled.

"Let's play a game, shall we?"

* * *

A/N

Mrs. Doublefinger is a little more sadistic than in the anime because, hey, sadistic characters are fun to write! Also, if you want me to start a bunch of outtakes or deleted scenes in another story, let me know and send ideas! I've written a bunch of strange, funny and slightly perverted ones because my mind lives in a gutter and I have no life.

Anyways, hope you're all having a great summer!

See ya!


	20. Chapter 20: Games and Pain

**Warning: Really Sadistic Game Ahead, Lots Of Blood And Pain.**

**You Have Been Warned.**

"Let's play a game, shall we?"

Nami seated herself on the box next to the wall. Immediately, she slumped against the wall and lifted her leg onto the box. I could tell that she was in terrible pain. Still, the look on her face was not one that a person who didn't know her well would recognize. It was her thinking look, the one that she wore when a storm was approaching the ship. All I had to do was stall for time and trust Nami's plan.

"What kind of game?" I snarled, glaring at Miss. Doublefinger. She gave a little giggle and removed her thorn-like fingers from the stone around me, effectively releasing me from my cage. I braced myself against the wall so as not to fall, but my thigh wound gave a sharp sting and I slid down to the hard ground. Hissing in pain, I clamped a hand over both it and my gut wound.

"Well, let's see," she grinned down at me like a child might when receiving a gift, "It all depends on how long you can last."

I glowered up at her. "What do you mean by 'last'?"

She stretched out a finger and poked my cheek. I jerked my head away and she cackled. "We're going to play a game, the three of us. It all depends on how long you can physically last against the pain, and how long your nakama," she tilted her head in Nami's direction, "can mentally last while she watches you get ripped apart..." her voice darkened, "by her choosing."

I lifted one eyebrow cockily, but my hands shook. "Why would I want to play?" I said, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Because if you don't, I'll kill you _both_ in the most brutal way possible."

Scowling, I formed a fist, but then, thinking of Nami, released it. "Fine. I'll play your fucking game. Explain it."

She straightened and turned to Nami, who looked shaken at the brief explanation. "You, my dear, will simply choose one of three options. Your choice, however, revolves around whether you should prolong your nakama's suffering, or end it."

"I..." Nami's voice shook, and I could tell it wasn't faked. "I have to choose to... kill her?"

"Or make her suffer if you can't do it right away. But if you can't choose, I will pick whatever I think is the worst option," Miss. Doublefinger finished for her.

Nami looked quite shaken by this, but I hoped that she would keep a level head about it and continue to devise a plan. I ripped a strip of fabric from the bottom of my cloak that covered my skirt and bikini top (that I was still wearing since we were at the Merry) and tied it around my stomach to stem the bleeding. I did the same with my thigh, though I had to hitch up my stupid skirt that I had been blackmailed into wearing. Ready, I flashed a bright smile to Nami, which she returned weakly.

I subtly pulled my hair down to conceal my mouth and mouthed, _Keep thinking._ Nami nodded almost imperceptibly and I turned back to the sadistic thorn-lady.

Miss. Doublefinger held up three pointy fingers. "Alright!" she giggled, sounding too excited, "The first round will start with these three choices. Ready? Good. First choice, foot. Second choice, shoulder. Third choice, head. Choose wisely."

I went over the choices in my head. Having my foot stabbed would mean I couldn't walk or run. Having my shoulder stabbed would immobilize one arm, but I would still have another for the time being. If my head was stabbed, I would die, plain and simple.

Nami took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and said decidedly, "Shoulder."

Miss. Doublefinger, instead of using her finger, drew her foot back and stretched it out. The foot thorn was longer and thicker than the others. With an excited squeal, she swung her foot forwards so fast I could barely brace myself. The thorn pierced my left shoulder right under the end of my collarbone.

A loud sound, somewhere between a scream and a grunt, escaped my mouth. I breathed hard as the thorn was pulled out, but yelled in pain as she kicked the same spot. My shoulder burned in a way I had never felt before. The pain went deep into my shoulder, contrasting from the large clawmarks I had received from the Lapahn.

"You... fuck!" I yelled, grabbing my shoulder and bending over. A single tear of frustration and anger dripped down onto my knee. I held my position, because if I didn't, I didn't know how much it would hurt.

Without waiting for me to recover, Miss. Doublefinger giggled sadistically and looked over at Nami. I could hear her breathing over my own. She calmed down faster though, and I could tell she was collecting herself.

_Dammit Nami, think fast! I don't know how many more rounds I can take!_

"Second round! Neck, side, or ear?" she giggled.

Nami took a deep breath and asked daringly, "What are you going to do with my choice this time?"

Miss. Doublefinger sounded slightly taken aback, but she answered, "Well, since you so _bravely _asked, I think I'll tell you. I'm just going to use my fingernail this time."

I snuck a glance upwards. She extended a razor thin and sharp nail. I thought about the options for this time. The only place that wouldn't be dangerous in the long term would be my side, as long as she didn't pierce my lung. I would be dead if she did that.

_Think fast! I can't do this much longer!_

Nami tapped her finger against her leg. Her eyes darted towards the parts of her Clima Tact lying in the road. She shifted her weight seemingly innocently, testing her mobility, but winced when she put pressure on her injured leg. She moved to the edge of the box and placed both feet on the road.

"I sincerely hope that you're not trying to leave," Miss. Doublefinger smirked, stepping up to the spot Nami sat perched on, "Because you know what will happen to your nakama. Now, neck, side, or ear?"

"Side," Nami replied with a defiant grin.

Miss. Doublefinger spun around and walked towards me gleefully. She stroked my bloody cheek and I spat at her. She retreated an inch, but raised her hand, the one razor thin nail protruding from it.

As she slowly drew her hand closer to my rib cage, Nami burst into motion. She darted into the road and snatched the pieces of the Clima Tact. Miss. Doublefinger spun around to see what was happening, but her nail caught on my side and ripped through the skin, leaving a four inch long cut. Although shallow, it stung badly, and I nearly bit my cheek.

As she was facing away from me, I ignited my right fist and slammed it into her back. Her long blue afro caught fire and she screamed when she noticed it, batting at it with her hands. Her frantic efforts only fanned the flames, and soon her entire head was on fire.

During the commotion, Nami had picked up her staff and stood in the middle of the road, twirling it. Bubbles were coming out of either side, and a still atmosphere settled over the dingy houses.

I scrambled across the road, momentarily ignoring the pain from my many cuts. I felt lightheaded from blood loss, but there were more important things to focus on. Such as, for example, the frazzled and burnt thorn-lady that was staggering towards us.

Pulling myself to the steps of a house, I attempted to stand. I braced myself against the door frame and propped myself up with the help of a broken board from a crate. I leaned against the wall for a moment to collect myself, then stumbled into the street where Nami was with my makeshift crutch.

She cast me a concerned look, but kept spinning her staff. Looking more closely at it, I observed that the bubbles were only coming out of one end now. I wasn't sure whether this was planned or not, but I pointed it out to Nami anyways.

"Anni, what do you mean? Of course they're not..." she trailed off, staring at her Clima Tact in dismay. "No! I thought Usopp had completed it!"

When I looked at her quizzically, she continued, "The bubbles of hot air have stopped working!"

I cast a line of flame at the ground to serve as a repellent for Miss. Doublefinger, who had gotten too close. Nami gasped in revelation, and, a second later, I realized that I might have solved the problem.

"That will work! Can you shoot fire into the clouds?"Nami exclaimed. I looked up, and sure enough there were dark storm clouds gathering over the block. I obliged, but as I was doing so, the skin around my rib cage stretched and tore the wound just a millimeter further. I brought my arm down fast and squeezed my eyes tight.

"Anni! Are you okay?" Nami asked concernedly.

I nodded. "What are you doing with the clouds?"

It looked to me that a storm was starting until the wind started to blow. It blew out the separating line between us and Miss. Doublefinger, but there was no need for it anymore. She was on the verge of unconsciousness, and the wind nearly blew her over.

Nami grinned. "This is my Tornado..." She gestured with her staff down from the clouds directly towards the lady that had hurt us both badly. An impressive swirl of clouds and wind struck her, lifting her up and knocking her back down. "Tempo!"

As I was watching, I smiled sadistically with a wonderful idea. I had heard of these, but never seen them. Fire spouts. They sounded awesome. Tornadoes that sucked up fire sounded like the perfect thing to wreak havoc on the torturous woman.

I shot a huge blast of fire into the center of the tornado. However, it was more than I had expected. It became a giant whirlwind of fire that blazed through the streets towards Nami and I. She screamed in terror, while I stood in awe at its beauty.

Tugging on my uninjured arm, Nami yelled something unintelligible over the roar of the swirling fire spout. I assumed that she meant _RUN YOU IDIOT!_, so I stumbled behind her with the broken board as a crutch as she ran as fast as she could in the direction of the palace. The fire spout was hot on our heels as we ran, quite literally. The pain from my many wounds stung worse than ever, and I was about to collapse from a combination of blood loss and fatigue.

As we ran (or stumbled in my case) through the streets, soldiers and rebels alike both fled from the raging tornado. Fighting forgotten, they raced ahead of us in terror shouting warnings to their comrades. Swords were dropped, guns were left behind, and violence was the last thing on their minds.

Eventually, just as the streets started to transition back to the wealthier part of town, the fire spout dimmed. It had run out of fuel and the fire was going out. The wind subsided, and the tornado fell apart.

A worried voice called out from a nearby street, "Anni! Nami!"

I blinked and looked up to see Ace running down the road towards us. I attempted to stop myself, but my momentum prevented me from doing so. I started to fall forwards, grabbing at my makeshift crutch for assistance, but found none. Just as I was about to topple onto the ground, Ace wrapped his strong arms around me and laid me down on the side of the road.

Nami came to sit beside me, leaning gratefully on the side of a house.

Ace leaned over me and asked concernedly, "What happened? I saw a big tornado made of fire and I heard the people screaming. I came to check it out and then I saw you two covered in blood."

Something triggered in my tired mind. "Ace, weren't you scouting around the city wall?"

"Yeah. Usopp and Chopper were fighting two Baroque Works Agents out there. I offered help, but Usopp said they didn't need it. I helped out anyways though; I think he was lying."

_Wow, I guess they're stronger than I thought._

"So, are they okay?" I asked.

Ace nodded, and I sighed in relief. I closed my eyes for a second and tried to evaluate my wounds, but there were so many that it proved nearly impossible. A dusty breeze blew through the streets carrying with it the sounds of swords clashing. I coughed, each one shaking my body.

"Anni, you should see Chopper about your injuries," Nami said, looking up from examining her Clima Tact.

I lifted my head a sliver to see, but I couldn't muster the strength to keep it there. Ace gently but firmly laid a hand on my forehead to make sure I didn't move.

"You never told me what happened," he insisted.

Nami began telling the story of our fight, starting from her first encounter with Miss. Doublefinger. She continued on to describe how I came in to help, but got caught by the Devil Fruit user. In a shaky voice she went through each detail of the 'game' and told Ace how I put up with it to give her time to think. Ace's face darkened at this, and he seemed torn between checking on me and looking for Miss. Doublefinger. She concluded the story with the creation of the fire spout, and how we ran even with the wounds inflicted by Miss. Doublefinger.

Upon hearing this, Ace pulled his hat low over his eyes, something that I had seen Luffy do when someone threatened his nakama. He stood up and started in the direction of our fight, but I mumbled, "She's dead, you know. We got her."

He paused and looked down at us. Nami and I grinned proudly. Ace sat back down next to me and stared. "You... Both of you are so... I'm glad you're alive," he finished.

"Anyways," Nami started, "Anni needs to get to Chopper. She's lost a lot of blood, and she'll need a blood transfusion if this gets any worse."

"Yeah," Ace agreed, "Can you walk? I can carry Anni to Chopper."

Nami nodded and stood up using the wall. Ace slid his arms under my back and knees. He stood up slowly, but my injured shoulder got squished between us. I let out a squeak.

"Sorry. I'm going to put you down for a second. Can you do that?" he said apologetically.

I nodded. He put me down against the wall and turned around. I slowly climbed up on his back with some help from Nami.

Now completely exhausted, I laid my head down on Ace's shoulder. His cowboy hat poked my head, so I shifted around to try and avoid it unsuccessfully.

"What's wrong?" Ace asked, turning his head as he walked.

I 'hmph'ed tiredly. "Your hat is poking me," I mumbled.

He let me go with one hand and lifted off his hat. He lightly pushed it down onto my head to where it blocked half of my vision, but I could still see.

"Thank you," I whispered gratefully, my eyelids becoming heavier with each step. A dark haze fell over my field of vision, and Ace's pace quickened as I quickly fell into unconsciousness.

XxX

"So, Chopper, how is she?"

"Hmm, she's lost a lot of blood, but she should be okay now."

"That's good. Hey, Ace! She's alright!"

"Thank goodness. Can I come in without being fined now?"

"Yes."

Boots clomped towards where I lay. I pried my eyes open to see three worried faces above me. Nami sighed in relief and sat down on a spot outside of my field of view. Chopper busied himself with adjusting my bandages. Ace sat down next to me and, looking around, I figured out that I was lying on the floor in the hallway of a long abandoned house.

"How long... What happened while I was out?" I asked, my voice scratchy.

"Nothing much. We got you to Chopper and Usopp, who came into the city. We don't know much about the others, but Usopp is searching for them right now. You weren't asleep for long, only about half an hour," Ace informed me.

I sat up ignoring Chopper's futile protests. Bandages covered my torso, shoulders, and upper leg. All of me hurt, but it was a dull ache instead of the stabbing pain from before. Chopper had done an astonishing job in such a short time.

Footsteps pounded on the street outside. Nami stood up, ready to defend herself with her Clima Tact. Chopper scrambled around organizing and hiding his supplies. Ace positioned himself between the door and me, but I lit my hand on fire just in case.

Suddenly, a long-nosed figure burst into the house.

"Big news!" Usopp shouted urgently, "There's a bomb somewhere in the city and Luffy is fighting Crocodile again!"

"A bomb?!" Nami gasped. The room fell silent as we waited for Usopp to elaborate on his story.

"Crocodile appeared on the battlefield and announced that he had placed a bomb in the city. Luffy arrived looking pretty beaten up a little while ago with a bird-man. He challenged Crocodile with a huge barrel of water and they're fighting up at the palace," Usopp panted, exhausted from running so hard, "And it turns out that one of Vivi's childhood friends was leading the rebellion, but a lot of things happened and now he's trying to stop the fighting with us."

"So, what do we need to do?" Nami loosened her grasp on her staff and stepped forwards. She was at the door, ready to go, when Usopp answered.

"Luffy told us to find the bomb. He said he can handle the fight but..." Usopp took a deep breath, "He doesn't look like he's doing so well. I'm worried for him, but he's our captain. We have to have faith in him."

Chopper looked around at his supplies scattered all over the room. "I'll need someone to help me clean up," he piped up.

"I'll help," Ace volunteered.

Usopp looked around the room, taking inventory of who was going where. "So... Ace and Chopper are staying here to clean up, then joining Nami, Anni, and I to look for the bomb, right?"

I pushed myself to my feet, leaning on Ace's shoulder for support. Ignoring the protests from both the fire user and the little doctor, I flexed my fingers and arms, then shook out my feet.

"Actually, I'll go and check on Luffy," I volunteered. Ace stood up sharply, unbalancing me. I swayed and nearly fell over, but he grabbed my shoulders and steadied me.

"You can't even stand alone. How do you expect to be of any help?" Ace insisted, lightly shaking my shoulders.

Usopp beckoned to Nami and the two slipped out to join the others in the search.

I floated an inch off the floor with the fire jet technique he taught me in the desert. "I'll be fine," I insisted, "And if I'm not, I'll make it up as I go. See, my powers are working fine."

Ace crossed his arms and strode over to the doorway, blocking it. "I don't want you to go fight Crocodile."

I dropped down onto the ground. "Why?" I asked, frustrated, "Is it because I'm injured?"

"You're too inexperienced," Ace stated bluntly.

I stepped up to him. "No, I'm not. I know that he's dangerous, and I know that he's hurting this country. That's all I need to know to beat him up. I promised Vivi I would!"

"You're wrong!" Ace shouted, "He's one of the Shichibukai, seven insanely strong pirates in league with the World Government. You don't have enough fighting experience to even try!"

"Luffy's out there fighting him right now! He's your little brother, so why won't you let me go?" I shouted back, poking his chest.

Ace uncrossed his arms, then crossed them again. "Luffy's been training since he was a little kid."

"And how do you know that I haven't?" I replied, "I was in that Academy since before I can remember! My life _depended_ on training and getting better! I was taught how to deal with pain so I could keep training!" Ace didn't reply, so I stomped past him. Just as I passed him, however, two arms wrapped themselves around me.

"Just... I don't want you to die. ...I'm worried," Ace mumbled, burying his face in my hair.

Surprised at his sudden change of attitude, I leaned back into his embrace, saying, "Don't worry. I won't die."

I turned back to face him and hugged him back, hard. Over his shoulder, I spotted Chopper. The poor doctor looked terrified. He was crouching next to his backpack, concealing half of his face. In one shaking hand he clutched a Rumble Ball, bringing it ever closer to his mouth.

"Hey, Chopper," I wondered, releasing Ace, "Do your Rumble Balls work on humans?"

He edged out from behind his backpack. "W-Well, they're not meant for humans, and even less for non-Devil Fruits users. To a normal person, it would simply give them a short boost of energy, but the side effects would be unpredictable. To a Devil Fruit user, it would enhance their abilities for three minutes, but not to the extent of mine, again with side effects. It would be quite dangerous for you to take one in your condition, as I don't know what it would do to you."

I came over to Chopper and picked the Rumble Ball out of his hand. "I just need to know if it will kill me," I ordered.

"There is a good chance it won't, but it's still dangerous!" Chopper protested. I patted him on the head, assuring him I would be fine and I would only use it as a last resort.

Rumble Ball in hand, I strode confidently to the doorway and out into the street. Ace followed hesitantly. I tested all four limbs carefully for pain. Finding none, I stretched out my sides, bending sideways and backwards. I took a couple trial running steps and tested the fire jet technique shortly, stopping after I crashed into a wall.

Rubbing my head sheepishly, I grinned at Ace. "I'll be fine once I get going, don't worry. Or maybe..." I brought a hand to my chin in thought, "If we come up with a name for that technique it'll work better!"

"The Fire Foot Jet... Running... Thing?" Ace suggested.

I laughed, waving off the idea. "No, silly. That's terrible. I'm going to call it the... Fire Jet Run!" I announced triumphantly.

"What's the difference?! It sounds the same as my name for it!" Ace protested playfully.

"It's better because I came up with it," I stated by way of explanation with my hands on my hips.

I had to get going soon, or else Luffy could be in trouble. I couldn't leave without doing one final thing, though.

Walking up to Ace, I gave him one more reassuring hug. As I pulled away, I rose up on my tiptoes and lightly kissed the tip of his nose. His freckled cheeks turned a rosy pink and he attempted to stutter out some form of sentence, which I grinned at.

"Well, I'll see you when this is all over with," I said, turning to go. Ace mumbled a stunned affirmative, and, at that, I finally left to go find Luffy.

XxX

After Jet Running for ten minutes or so, I finally caught sight of the palace. It was grander than I had imagined, but I had no time to dwell on that. I was approaching from the back, but even so, I could hear the commotion of the fight in front of the palace.

I ran up the stairs leading up to the back of the palace and attempted to do the epic flame-fueled leap that Ace had done to exterminate the Baroque Works ships, but this time to jump over the palace. Unfortunately, I didn't put enough energy into it and I caught my foot on the ornamental edge of the roof as I came over the top.

"Wooooaaaaah!" I yelled, spinning down uncontrollably. As a safety precaution, I rolled myself into a ball. That only made me spin faster though, so I spread myself out like a starfish to control my descent. I caught a glimpse of the ground just before I hit it. My legs buckled as I hit the ground hard, and I dropped into a roll (or maybe five).

Standing up dizzily, I took in my surroundings. The ground outside the castle was pitted and scarred from the fight, and most of the plants were a little worse for wear. The castle walls were scraped and cracked in multiple places from many different impacts.

"Anni!" came the surprised voice of my captain. He wore a large barrel of what looked like water strapped to his back, and he was all scratched up. He stared at me in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

I glanced back at Crocodile, who was as surprised as Luffy was (and sort of... wet?), then replied, "I came to beat up Crocodile too. I promised Vivi that I would do it no matter what state I was in, so here I am. Plus," I smirked, "You can't have all the fun."

Luffy launched himself past me, sucking in a mouthful of water from a long straw. He directed a punch at Crocodile and as it connected, he spat the water out, drenching the Shichibukai.

_Oh, so water works the same as fire does. Sand won't work when it's wet, or when it's melted. Either way it accomplishes the same goal: Crocodile would be incapable of dissolving into sand._

Jumping into the fight, I landed a couple quick punches. The battle started off as just hand-to-hand, which was Luffy's and my forté. Crocodile was pummeled from both sides as we got the most out of the short time that he was solid.

However, that only lasted until the water evaporated in the heat and Crocodile disappeared in a cloud of sand. When he reformed, I was ready with a flaming punch that connected with his shoulder. The spot around my fist instantly solidified, and Crocodile stepped back from the force behind it.

The Shichibukai's mind whirled; I could see it in his dark eyes. He dissipated into the air, letting his solid shoulder fall to the ground with a clunk. Reforming behind me, he grabbed me by my neck and slammed me into the ground.

I coughed up blood, spattering on the neatly mowed lawn. Crocodile took the opening to engulf me in a sandstorm, lifting me up and throwing me back down. I knew I wouldn't be able to dodge in time, so I braced myself for another attack.

When it didn't come, I cautiously opened one eye. Immediately, I scrambled to my feet when I saw Luffy rapid-fire punching Crocodile, using the same water technique as before.

I dove in to help, and together we came up with some very effective moves. It was only a few minutes into the fight when I sprang backwards to collect myself, breathing heavily.

This was just getting interesting.

* * *

A/N

I'm going to try and keep my rambling from distracting from the story. I'm back from vacation now, but I'm trying to keep up with my fitness rampage. By my standards I am _weak_! Still stronger than most girls my age though... (that I know).

I have been switching between Imperial and Metric, and I was wondering if it's okay or if I should stick to just one.

Also, is this romance going too fast? I'll edit the chapter regarding the feedback from you guys, so please tell me what you think of it.

See ya!


	21. Chapter 21: Bomb

Anni's POV

The battle between Crocodile and our small team of two dragged on, with neither side showing weakness or giving way. At times it would seem like we had won, but then Crocodile would come back with another move that would send us reeling back. I had learned quickly that if Crocodile even brushed against my skin that he could suck all the moisture from it – it was an extremely uncomfortable feeling. I felt sorry for raisins.

Fortunately, at times like those, Luffy would splash me with the water he carried and my skin would rejuvenate slowly. After one or two close calls, I decided that it would be better to have a shield that would cover my entire body.

It was when Crocodile turned his attention to Luffy that I took a moment to focus on my power. I closed my eyes briefly and took in everything, from the wounds all over my body to the birds pecking at scattered corpses in the plaza to the current battle around me. With a deep breath, I channeled my power to my entire body, covering it with a thick wall of fire. As I opened my eyes, I found that, however easy it seemed to look through fire, it had its drawbacks.

For one thing, the landscape flickered between orange, yellow and sometimes white through the hot colours of the flames. The other drawback was the waves of heat that materialized around the flames and bent the surrounding shapes. A flat wall seemed to quiver and shake as I glanced around, and it was harder for me to read the movements of the deadly Shichibukai through the heat.

However, the upside was that the heat was so intense that any sand that came within a foot of me would be instantly solidified.

As Crocodile paused his attack for a moment to observe my addition to the fight, I lunged forwards and slammed my fist into his stomach. He flew backwards to the wall, where the solidified body part smashed, leaving a gaping hole that quickly refilled.

The sand came up from the ground, out of a small hole. The flow of sand quickened, and a small crack appeared in the ground in front of Crocodile. As I stared, the crack widened and scuffed up dirt fell down into the hole.

Suddenly, I knew what he was doing. The ground collapsed and split open, ripping up chunks of grass and dirt as it raced towards Luffy and I. Concentration broken, the flames around me flickered out as I dived to the side.

The rumbling from the cave-in quieted, and I sat up carefully in case the ground crumbled underneath me. Luffy also carefully got up from where he had dodged the cave-in. A quick glance assured me that he wasn't injured, and another quick assessment of the attack confirmed my guess. Crocodile had used the sand to erode the ground underneath us, and when enough weight had been applied, the dirt and stone had collapsed in on itself.

The attack had left multiple long crevices running through the garden. Each were maybe three meters deep and a meter across.

However, frustrated that his attack hadn't had the desired effect, Crocodile continued his relentless attacks. Luffy and I each fought back, using the weaknesses that we found to our advantage.

The battle continued evenly, neither side giving in, until exhaustion began to slow our moves. Luffy started to breathe heavily, and took a moment now and then to catch his breath. Crocodile also began to slow down his attacks; they were less elaborate and more direct. I was faring the worst though, my throat was dry from the sand and I was ripping the stitches that Chopper had just done less than an hour ago. He would be so mad at me for it.

I could just picture the tiny fuming reindeer when he found out. He would say something reprimanding along the lines of 'Anni! How could you be so irresponsible? I should have made Ace stop you when I had the chance!' in his high-pitched voice that I can't help but smile at.

My thoughts slid to the rest of the crew and Ace. I hoped that they had found the bomb by now. It would be... inconvenient to say the least if it went off in the middle of our fight and Crocodile got away. Consequently, if the bomb went off I would lose the people I could call family. Sure, Clara and her family had adopted me when I first appeared, and I had promised to come back to them, but Luffy and the crew had given me the opportunity to become not just a pirate, but part of their close-knit nakama. For that, I would be eternally grateful.

Suddenly snapping back to Chopper, I remembered the Rumble Ball I had taken. Now was the perfect time to use it; Crocodile was weaker and I was losing my edge.

Digging it out of my bag, I called to Luffy, "Stand back! I don't know what this will do!"

I raised it to my mouth before Luffy replied, "No, wait-!"

I shot him a daring grin and crunched the pill between my teeth like I had seen Chopper do. Immediately I felt a rush of adrenaline, and I vaguely recalled a raging inferno springing to life around me. A red haze crossed my vision and I remember catching a glance of the smirking Shichibukai before I lost control of my body.

Later, when I asked around, eyewitnesses told me that the grounds in front of the palace had suddenly burst into flame, an inferno that engulfed the whole of the lawn. Some said that they had seen a small white-blue dot flitting around in the fire, but most just recalled the intense heat that swept over them. Many people also noted that the ground shook in synchronization with the flashes of light and loud yells. The sudden and unexpected turn of events lasted less than a minute according to most, but I heard the story exaggerated to at least ten minutes. In that time, some people had stopped fighting, and simply looked on in awe at the spectacle.

I remember coming back to my senses after the effect of the Rumble Ball wore off. I swayed and stumbled as I brought a hand to my head. God, it hurt.

The lawn was burnt to a crisp and the walls were scorched up to about fifteen feet above my head. Luffy stood at the edge of the destruction, looking on in a mixture of amazement and concern. His eyes were big and round, but he recovered quickly and ran to my side.

"Anni, what did you do? You could have killed yourself!" he chastised, but he gently helped me steady myself. I looked around dazedly for Crocodile. I hoped he was defeated, because I didn't have the strength to face him again.

I coughed, "I beat him up, didn't I? I promised Vivi I would."

Luffy nodded and pointed at the ground, where a thousand pieces of shattered glass lay on the charred grass. One of the largest appeared to be half of Crocodile's head staring at us with a look of utter surprise.

"I.. did that?" I asked in utter disbelief. No, that couldn't have been right. Luffy stepped in and took him down himself. Yes, that's what happened. I couldn't have done this myself.

"Shishishi~" Luffy laughed, "Yup! You were pretty scary! The fire was big enough to roast a thousand slabs of meat! Mmm~"

I was about to reply when the leftover sand swirled in front of us. It caught my attention, as there was no wind to stir it. Before I could mention this to Luffy, though, a hand grabbed the back of my neck. By the sounds of struggling from Luffy, I could tell he was in the same predicament as me.

"Foolish brat," a growling voice snarled, "To have the nerve to think that that pitiful candle would damage me in the slightest. Now, go back to where you came from!"

I froze in terror at the feeling that washed over me. It was a terrifying sensation, having every last drop of water sucked from my body. My skin stiffened up and shriveled like a prune. It was like having the life drained out of my skin and muscles.

With a dark laugh, Crocodile let us fall to the ground. I struggled to move my arm, but it felt like straw. He walked away victoriously, but as soon as he was out of sight, I pressed a lit finger to the side of Luffy's water barrel and burned through the wood. As my eyes closed, I felt a drop of water fall on my hand and slide onto Luffy.

XxX

I faded back into the land of the living slowly. The ground was shaking rhythmically, almost as if it was running. I groggily moved my hand along the ground, but – my eyes widened – it wasn't the ground at all. I slid my hand along the bare skin of the person who was carrying me, and, upon touching the beaded necklace, immediately confirmed my guess of who it was.

No. Not _again! _The humiliation... I could never live this down.

"Hey," I grumbled sulkily.

Ace chuckled.

"Hey. What is this, the second time today? You need some kind of alarm on you if you're gonna get into this much trouble."

I muttered a curse and squirmed about, flailing my arms and legs.

"Oi, put me down! I don't need to be carried around like some kind of bag!" I said, finally putting my feet down on solid ground. Now freed from the humiliation (for now) I turned in the direction we were heading.

"The bomb," I asked, "What happened with that?"

Ace ran a hand through his hair and started walking along the wide road.

"I'm not sure yet. Chopper had a lot of things to clean up, so it took a while. Then, when we went to catch up with Usopp and Nami, we saw the palace go up in flames. Chopper sent me to check it out, and when I got there, you and Luffy were lying on the ground all shriveled up. Then, Luffy's water barrel broke and you both soaked up the water. I was really surprised, but Luffy told me to take you and look for the bomb," Ace explained, picking up the pace.

We ran through the streets for several minutes, passing much evidence of violence. Ace told me that he had agreed to meet Chopper in the streets on the edge of the plaza unless other news came in. We scoured the area that Chopper would be waiting in, but found no trace until we came across both Chopper and Usopp waiting for us in an alley.

"Hey guys," I greeted them. Usopp made a shushing motion and beckoned for us to come closer.

As we approached, he pointed around the corner towards the large bell tower.

"Do you see that tower?" he gestured to the top as Ace and I peered around the corner. "Vivi is sure that the bomb is at the top."

I started brashly towards it, but Usopp grabbed my arm and dragged me back out of sight.

"Careful! There are two Baroque Works agents at the top! They haven't seen us yet," Usopp warned. He went on to say that Nami and Vivi were at the very bottom of the tower, and that we had to get to them without being seen. Once we were there, the dust in the air from the battle would conceal us from their sight.

I snuck a quick glance around at our enemies. The woman was dressed as a frog, with big eyes on her headdress. Her 'gero gero' frog laughter echoed down from the open tower. Her partner, a man, was dressed quite formally – if this was an old kingdom. His long red coat and white powdered curled wig matched his old-fashioned hat. They both carried large guns that they aimed carelessly every which way.

Behind them stood a large cannon with a bomb the with a diameter the length of a human ready to fire. A fuse stuck out one side waited to be lit and blow the bomb out into the square, where it would decimate the city.

The four of us snuck around the corner one by one, running along the wall to the base of the clock tower. When it was my turn, I ran softly, pressing my hands against the rough stone wall. My heart pounded but I made it without tripping or being seen.

"Anni! Thank goodness you got here!" Vivi exclaimed. She ran towards me and hugged me, nearly knocking me off of my feet. "Nami told me what happened with Miss. Doublefinger!"

"I'm fine. By the way, Vivi," I said, looking around, "Where are Zoro and Sanji?"

The two were missing from the group. I had assumed that they would be waiting with Nami and Vivi, but they hadn't shown up.

Looking around, Vivi was as puzzled as I was, until an enthusiastic voice shouted out, "Nami-swan~! Vivi-chwan~! Anni-chwan~!"

I looked up at the clock tower, where, leaning out the second story window, Sanji waved down at us. Well, that explained where Sanji was, but-

"Oi! There you guys are!"

"Zoro?!" Nami gaped, "How did you get up there?"

The swordsman had managed to find his way to the top level of the clock tower, a whole two levels above where Sanji was. To me, it looked like he had gotten lost again while on the way to find us and ended up inside the tower. He was covered in bloody slash marks, like he had gone through a shredder.

"Nami, how long do we have?" Usopp asked cautiously.

Nami looked up towards the open face of the clock tower. "About a minute and a half," she replied.

"What?!"

"The bomb goes off at four o'clock. Crocodile announced it," Nami informed Usopp, Chopper, and myself coolly.

She put a hand to her head, thinking. Taking in the two rivals on the second and top levels, she looked back at the rest of the group with a look that made Chopper slowly inch behind the quivering Usopp. I practically saw the wheels in her head turning as she came up with a plan.

"Yosh, I have a plan," she announced brusquely, "Ace, Anni, go stand by the wall. Usopp, stand on their shoulders. Vivi, get on Chopper. Chopper, stand on Usopp."

Despite our lack of knowledge of the plan, none of us dared question Nami. Doing what we were told, we formed an unstable pyramid.

With a grin, Nami ordered, "Now, you two are going to shoot straight up until you reach Sanji."

Nami counted down, and we did as she told us to do. Flames burst out of my feet, pushing the pyramid into the air. Despite Usopp's frantic protests that he was going to be cooked alive, we made it to the second level – barely.

Just as the flying pyramid reached Sanji, Ace and I both gave it one more final effort before dropping back down through the air. The force propelled Usopp, Chopper, and Vivi a few more feet.

From the ground, Nami instructed, "Sanji-kun! Kick them up to Zoro!"

With a yell of agreement, Sanji obeyed, jumping out of the window and kicking the unfortunate Usopp so hard that he let go of Chopper's legs. As he fell, Nami snapped, "Anni! You're on catching people duty!"

I immediately scrambled to get to the place where I could see Usopp was about to land. I arrived about two seconds after he had landed, face first on the stone road. I stood for a moment, unsure of what to do, but decided just to drag him back to Nami. Usopp was always fine after these things, no need to worry.

As I returned, Zoro crashed down on the pavement in front of me right next to where the purposely ignorant Sanji stood.

Dropping Usopp, I looked back up to the top of the clock tower. Chopper had been spotted by the Baroque Works agents, but there was no Vivi in sight. Suddenly, she appeared from above, dropping down onto the two and spinning her pinky weapons shaped like peacock feathers. I had never asked what they were called...

In a flash, she had cut down the two and lunged towards the fuse, slicing off the lit end just as it reached the bomb. My group down on the ground cheered at the success, until Vivi's frustrated scream rang down from the tower.

"It has a timer!"

Those four words sent a chill down my spine. It would go off no matter where it was! There was barely any hope of surviving the blast, much less moving the bomb to a safe location.

Suddenly, a shadow flickered across us, landing on the ledge of the tower. The man looked a lot like a bird, but upon his landing, he transformed into a human. I thought that maybe he had eaten a Devil Fruit like Chopper's, where it would allow him to morph into an animal.

_Hey, I'm getting kinda good at this whole 'guess the Devil Fruit' thing._

A collective gasp jolted me out of my thoughts. The bird-man -Pell, Vivi was yelling- was dragging the bomb out of the cannon. As he flew up, I understood his actions. He was going to sacrifice himself by flying the bomb up to where it wouldn't blow up the city.

I choked back a gasp in honor of his actions. He continued his noble actions, flying straight up into the clear sky. A hush fell over our group as the only sound to be heard was Vivi's screams.

It seemed to happen in slow motion, the explosion. First, there was a small flash of light where Pell had flown up to. Next, the light expanded rapidly to nearly encompass the entire sky. An ear-splitting bang hit, followed by a blast of heat and wind.

The only sound to be heard after it died down was Vivi's sobs and cries of "Pell!".

A moment of silence was held for Pell, who had saved the kingdom from utter destruction. As Vivi's sobs continued, I called up to her, "Vivi? Can you come down?"

The seven of us waited in silence as Vivi disappeared from view. Eventually she appeared in a doorway with slumped shoulders and tear-stained cheeks. I ran towards her, giving her a tight hug.

"Pell did a noble thing, you know," I consoled her, "He saved the kingdom from the bomb."

"I know," she choked out, "But I still can't believe it. It's all Crocodile's fault." Her voice changed from mournful to angry.

I released her, holding her shoulders at arms length.

"I beat him up. I didn't beat him," I admitted sheepishly, "But I beat him up. Just like I promised."

Vivi's eyes teared up again, but before she got a word out, a drop of rain fell between us. I glanced up at the sky, and what I saw stunned not only me, but our entire group. Large black clouds swept over the sky where there had only been blue moments before. Thick raindrops splashed on the stone, clearing away the dust in the air. Within moments, there were small streams running down the side of the roads, washing away the blood staining them.

As I listened, sounds of fighting from the square quieted and the clashing of weapons stopped. Vivi ran towards the square with the rest of us following close behind.

The soldiers and rebels alike stood still in awe as they watched the rain pour down. When they had been enemies just mere moments before, now they had no interest in each other, except to murmur about the miracle rain to.

Vivi pushed her way into the center of the crowd, meeting little resistance as she did so. Once there, she began drawing the people's attention to her. She spoke commandingly about the Dance Powder and Crocodile's plan to control the kingdom. She told the rebels how they were being used, and how their leader, Kohza, was misguided but now knew the truth.

The people listened attentively, and believed every word she said. I could see on their faces that they understood what had happened, and their anger at Crocodile. Vivi's speech carried on, joined by a larger man with a wig that the crew identified as Igaram, who brought proof of the king's innocence.

Suddenly, catching my attention, a soft _boom_ came from the side of the palace, and a small cloud of dust rose – quickly to be drenched due to the rain. It was quiet, but the crew immediately went to check it out on the possibility that it could be Luffy or Crocodile.

As we ran up the palace stairs to the garden, Ace noted that this was the way that Luffy had gone when he left to find Crocodile, so it could very possibly be him.

Upon our arrival to the spot, we found Luffy, covered in blood and soaking wet, next to an enormous hole in the ground holding both the king, and a tall, dark-haired lady whom he laid on the ground. As we helped them back to the square, the crowd had dispersed and Vivi and Igaram were walking towards us across the charred grass that I pretended to ignore.

Igaram quickly took the king from us and darted inside the palace with exclamations of worry. As he ducked inside, I heard him mumble, "And the lawn in in a terrible state! I can't believe that these pirates had to fight on the lawn. The lawn of all places! It's all burnt and these holes look terrible!"

"It's done," Vivi exclaimed happily. She sounded both relieved and tired as she told us what had gone down with the crowd. The people were going to go and get treated for their wounds at their respective places, and there would be no more fighting. Vivi had revealed Crocodile's plan to them, which had dissolved their belief in him as a leader, and had strengthened their support for the king.

She invited us into the castle to see the castle doctor to treat our wounds. However, it seemed that he had left during the fighting (probably scared), so Chopper set up using both the supplies in the room and the ones from his backpack. The room was small, and there was only one bed in it, so we left Luffy with Chopper when he shooed us out.

Vivi led us into another room just across the hall, where there was a short couch and a longer one. The short one faced towards the window, and the longer one sat across from it under said window. Nami claimed the short one for both her and Vivi (and me if I wanted) so they wouldn't get squished between Usopp, Ace, Sanji, Zoro, and I.

The five of us collapsed in a heap of arms and legs on the couch, barely big enough for us. Immediately, the remaining strength seeped out of my bones into the fluffy pillows, and I slouched down contentedly, casually shoving Usopp's arm out of my face and Zoro's foot off of my leg. Ace's head suddenly drooped and he slumped against Zoro, who in turn pushed him into Sanji, who voiced his displeasure. This turned into a shouting fight that Nami soon quieted, and the two rivals glared at each other in silence over Ace's oblivious head.

We stayed in the room for just under an hour, waiting for Chopper. The reindeer didn't appear, but the animal that did was a welcome familiar face.

"Carue!" Vivi exclaimed, jumping up and running to her friendly bird. Carue squawked happily in return, and the two embraced.

The sun went down soon after, and the sunset across the sand was beautiful. I fell asleep on the couch under a pile of limbs – most of which weren't mine. I didn't dream at all, I was so tired.

XxX

In the morning, the late _late_ morning, I finally woke up. I was the last one left on the couch, so I was sprawled across it. I sat up and stretched, wincing as the wounds from yesterday stung, just as Nami came in.

"Good morning!" she greeted me cheerfully, "Vivi invited us to go into the indoor hot springs! Are you coming? Chopper said they'd be good for healing and relaxation."

"Why not?" I replied, grabbing the towel she offered me and following her down the hall. Honestly, I was glad she was there, because I definitely would have gotten lost in all the passageways. Maybe Zoro's habit was rubbing off on me.

When we entered a tiled room with baskets, I was shocked and uncomfortable when Nami stripped down and walked into the room full of steam.

"Umm... Nami?" I asked quietly, covering my eyes with my hand in case she came back.

Her footsteps echoed back into the room.

"Yes? Oh, don't tell me. Are you uncomfortable?"

I nodded. "Yeah, kinda. Is this, like, a normal thing to do?"

"Yup!" she replied cheerfully, "Don't worry, this one is just for us girls. And there are lots of bubbles for you to cover up."

I sighed in defeat, stripping down, tying my hair up, and walking awkwardly into the larger room that was filled with small steaming pools. Nami and Vivi sat on the side of one, talking and laughing normally. I almost managed to reach one before Vivi exclaimed, "Anni! You're covered in bruises!"

"Yeah," I agreed quickly, crossing my arms over my chest and inching my way towards the bubble-filled pools.

"Well, the hot springs should help heal them," Vivi said, concernedly looking at the array of yellows, purples, and browns littering my body.

I swiftly stepped into a pool and slid down until my nose just touched the piles of bubbles. The water was warm, just on the verge of too hot for normal people.

"And Anni? You honestly don't have to be embarrassed about _anything,_" Nami added, glancing down pointedly at my chest area.

I mumbled something incomprehensible through the bubbles. My cheeks went bright red in embarrassment and the water around me started to simmer furiously.

Nami and Vivi giggled and stood up to move to a pair of stools in the center of the tiled floor. Nami started to scrub Vivi's back, and, once she was done, Vivi began returning the favor. Just after she started though, she let out a strangled squeak and snatched up a towel lying on the ground. Nami, looking up, did the same.

I looked at where they were staring in horror, and, to my surprise, the entire male part of the crew (excluding Zoro) _plus Ace and the king_ were staring over the dividing wall! I immediately sunk lower in the pool until my chin touched the water, hoping they didn't see me.

Luffy waved at Nami and Vivi, saying, "Hey! Na-"

Sanji instantly pulled him down with a muttered 'shhh!', but it was way too late for that. Nami smirked, the kind that said 'I'm going to fine you'. And that was exactly what she did.

She stood up calmly and said, "You all owe me 200, 000 beli." then she dropped her towel. I honestly hadn't expected that. Sanji disappeared in a stream of red, while the smart ones like Usopp, Ace, and Cobra (I had heard the king's name from Igaram in the hallway on the way to the springs) ducked back down. Luffy and Chopper were left staring blankly – and innocently – until someone eventually dragged them down.

Nami sat down contently and Vivi – after a moment's hesitation – continued scrubbing her back like nothing had happened. Meanwhile, I had had enough of the springs, so I darted out and into the change room to dry off, which I did extraordinarily quickly. Vivi called out to me, but I was dressed and on my way out the door, so I just replied, "Yeah, bye, see ya later!"

XxX

Back on the couch, I waited for the crew to return. Actually, I wasn't sure if I _wanted_ them to come back as such, but I waited nonetheless. After a good twenty minutes or so, the door burst open, and Luffy bounced through, followed by the rest of the crew. The male members (including Zoro this time) all had large bumps on their heads, no doubt courtesy of Nami.

"Yosh! Anni! They're gonna cook a huge feast for us tonight! I can't wait!" he announced enthusiastically. The crew mumbled agreement, and the room dissolved into happy chatting.

Usopp came over and rambled on to me about some huge feast that he himself had cooked for a starving nation in the North Blue, and how they had thanked him with a solid gold statue in a likeness of himself. The story went on to detail how a mafia group had caught word of the statue and set up a trap for his ship that had also been decorated in gold. He managed to avoid the trap due to his superior knowledge of the area and amazing sailing skills, but ended up in a cave. This in turn led to Usopp discovering an ancient curse that only he could break, and the grateful people granted him access to an underground passageway that would take him to a treasure trove full of ancient riches from all over the world.

Chopper came to sit by me and listened attentively to every word Usopp said. The little doctor obviously believed every word of it, and gasped in awe at every new part.

When it was time for the feast, Igaram came to get us. He lead us to the dining hall, though we could have easily followed Luffy and his nose.

In the hall stood a long table, laden with all types of meat and sauces. The cooks had evidently caught word of the crew's love of meat, and my stomach grumbled loudly at the sight of it. As well as meat, there were pastries of all different shapes and sizes, and beautiful fruit dishes. There were also some vegetable dishes, but I was too busy focused on the meat to pay attention to something insignificant such as that.

Igaram sat us down around the table, telling us to not eat until the king had said his thanks. The majority of the table was a jittery, fidgity mess, from Luffy twitching every second, to me tapping my foot repetitively on the floor.

Cobra stepped into the hall smiling, and sat down at the head of the table next to Vivi. He took one knowing look at the nine of us glancing at the food, and announced, "I would like to thank you for saving my kingdom from the Shichibukai Crocodile's plan to take control. Now, eat your fill!"

With the invitation, there were hands flying everywhere to grab at food. I loaded my plate and began to eat voraciously, shoveling food into my mouth. I kept my plate slightly tilted away from the wandering rubber hands that roamed across the table. The food was not quite as good as Sanji's, but it was all I had eaten since breakfast. And yes, I can go days without food, but I fought a Shichibukai and helped stop a bomb. I deserved food.

The crew worked their way through the food on the table, going through seconds and thirds before demanding dessert. The nervous chefs ran as fast as they could, but as soon as they replaced one dish, another was gone.

After dinner, I felt full and quite a bit larger. Igaram showed us to our rooms, a bit put off at the amount that we ate. Nami and I shared a room, while Vivi went with Carue to her own. The boys were put in a room with mats covering the floor.

Before he left, Luffy told us about the plan for tomorrow morning and Vivi's speech to the people. She had decided to stay with her kingdom and continue on her adventure here, while we would leave early before anyone was awake.

* * *

A/N

So sorry about the wait. I had a bit of writer's block at various points in the chapter.

Hey, the Arabasta arc is nearly done! Wow...

See ya!


	22. Chapter 22: Halloween

As you know, this is the Halloween chapter. And, as you should also know, this is what comes out of my brain, and will most likely get very dark. Just telling you now, if you didn't know.

* * *

Anni's POV

Halloween! I love Halloween so much! Costumes, and parties, and no romance whatsoever!

Although, just to be sure, I'm waiting to see if Nami tries to pair anyone up. That's the _only_ reason I'm hiding in our bedroom. She was unclear yesterday...

_Flashback to Yesterday_

"_Do you know what day it is tomorrow?" Nami asked, bouncing along the Going Merry's deck._

_Lounging in my deckchair, I thought long and hard._

"_Nope. I don't even know what day it is today," I answered._

_She bent and whispered in my ear, a cat-like grin spreading across her face, "Tomorrow's Halloween. And holidays are very _special_ days. Don't you remember the last holiday? I'm going to make sure this is even better!"_

_I swear my eyebrows were going to fly right off my face._

"_The last holiday?" I thought about the Valentine's Day fiasco. Not that it ended badly, but the entire concept was... awkward. To say the least._

"_Yup!" Nami smiled, skipping away like she hadn't just scared the living daylights out of me._

Back to the Present!

So, like I said, I'm not scared of being forced on a date with someone _at all._ Okay? I just dislike it. A lot...

But anyways! I hadn't heard any screams of protest, so I assumed that it was safe for me to exit the room.

I snuck up the stairs and slowly lifted the trapdoor. Seeing nobody, I crept out the door onto the deck, and sprinted up into the kitchen, where I was met with a scene that reminded me quite a lot of my Valentine's Day morning.

The kitchen was decorated from top to bottom in orange and black. Zoro sat at the table with his head down on his arms, snoring. I walked over to him, only to burst out laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of what I saw.

The top of the swordsman's previously bright green hair had been sprayed an obnoxious orange, while the back was sprayed black, giving the appearance of a small wig placed on his head. Painted on the back of his white shirt was a huge bat with little fangs. It looked adorable.

In the background, Sanji, looking extremely pleased with himself, stood stirring a pot.

"What'cha doing?" I asked, peering over his shoulder. Inside the pot was a thick red liquid, and it smelled deliciously sweet.

"Ah! Anni-chwan! I didn't see you at breakfast today. I decorated the room for you and Nami-swan! What do you think?" He said, gesturing grandly at the decorations with his free hand.

"I see you dyed the plant," I laughed, "Personally, I think it might even be an improvement!"

Sanji burst into laughter. "Me too."

The door banged open and Luffy rocketed in.

"Sanjiiiiii! I'm hungry!"

"Wait," I said, looking around for a clock, "Is it lunchtime already?"

"No, you still have about an hour," Sanji replied, fending off the hungry Luffy.

"Ah, okay," I said, wandering out of the kitchen. I walked down to the front of the ship, wondering what Zoro would do when he wakes up. Or if he would notice at all.

I sat down in my chair, listening to the familiar sounds of Luffy being kicked out of the kitchen and onto the deck.

A minute later I felt restless and felt an urge to sit up in the crows nest. It was empty, which was strange. I picked up the spyglass and aimed it at the horizon directly ahead. Not that there were any landmarks to judge by, but I felt that we were slightly off course.

Soon I was bored, so I got up and walked over to Usopp, who was fishing alongside a big bruise, who I assumed was Luffy. I sat down next to them, picking up a spare fishing rod.

"Do you really think it's okay to let Nami be in charge of Halloween tonight? I mean, it might be better to let Chopper handle it... He won't do anything freaky like Nami..." Usopp was saying, shaking.

"Shishishi~" Luffy laughed, "It'll be fine! I bet Nami will have vampires," -Usopp shivered- "Werewolves," -Usopp nearly dropped the fishing rod- "and-"

"Wait," I interrupted, "Nami is in charge of Halloween?"

Luffy nodded. "On the ship. She specifically requested it, since we're not going to reach another island anytime soon." he pouted, "And Sanji said we're running out of meat."

"Maybe you're sleepwalking again," I mused, remembering my warning I received from Nami when I first joined to not sleep in the kitchen for fear of being eaten.

With a chuckle from Luffy, we lapsed into silence broken only by the occasional fish jumping out of the water.

That was when the world went black.

XxX

I sat up rubbing my head. Looking around, I took in my surroundings. I was in a small dark room that smelled like... like what exactly? It was metallic and stale. I knew I had smelled it before, but I couldn't place it.

_Am I still on the ship? I don't recognize this place._

I walked about two steps before tripping over something lumpy. I went crashing to the floor as the lumpy thing went "Ouch!"

Chopper sat up looking around frantically until his eyes landed on me. He launched himself into my arms wailing, "Anni! What's going on here?"

"I don't know!" I replied, "But we should find the others."

Chopper stood up, then promptly fell back over clutching his nose.

"It stinks of blood in here!" he cried.

I pinched my nose, immediately recognizing the smell.

"Where are we?" I asked, not expecting an answer, but to confirm that Chopper didn't know either.

He opened his mouth to reply when a scratchy voice echoed through the room.

"Welcome to your grave. Or, if you're lucky, the place that will send you to the crazy house. I am your host, the person who will oversee your probable deaths. Call me Host. Yes, I think that fits."

"What the hell?" I addressed the room, "What the fuck is this?"

"And where are our nakama?" Chopper added.

"Heh heh heh..." the voice, Host, chuckled, "All questions will be answered at the end."

"The end?" I asked incredulously, "Isn't this getting really cliché, _Host_?"

There was a silent pause, and the static-y sound of an impact.

"Host?" I asked cautiously.

There was no answer, but a door slid open ahead of Chopper and I. The new room was also dark, but a dim red glow shone from somewhere inside. I glanced behind us just to check for other escapes.

Finding nothing, I continued on into the room while Chopper followed behind me.

"This is Room One."

Ah, so Host was back. It was too much to hope they were gone.

The red light was coming from behind a huge silhouette. The light slowly shifted from red to blue, and a chill filled the room. I soon recognized the hulking figure as that of a Lapahn.

"Chopper...?" I whispered quietly.

There was no answer, so I slowly turned to check on Chopper. The tiny reindeer was staring at the giant rabbit, a look of terror on his face. His nose quivered.

That look steeled my nerves. I wanted to protect Chopper from whatever he was scared of, even if that meant facing my own fears. The cold wind whipping around the room bit into my arms, but I my mind subconsciously drifted to Ace... and how warm he was...

No. Back to focusing!

The rabbit's ear twitched, making both Chopper and I flinch. A split second later, I leaped at it, hands unlit. I hit it in the stomach, throwing it into the wall, shattering the light. The room was plunged into darkness, but I kept fighting.

Until Chopper suddenly shouted, "Anni, stop!" and I paused.

"What, Chopper?" I asked warily.

"It's not a Lapahn!" Chopper shouted, "It's Luffy!"

"What?!"

I felt around cautiously and carefully ripped off the head of the Lapahn costume to reveal an unconscious Luffy. Pulling him out, I shook him gently until I felt him move.

"Congratulations, you passed Room One of Three. From now on, you might want to learn from your mistakes if you hope to have any semblance of success," Host's voice sounded through the room.

"Are you really supposed to be helping us?" I asked snarkily, "I mean, I thought you were some sadistic person who just wants to watch us die."

"That would be a mistake you should learn from."

_Shit._

The door we came through slid open again, only this time to reveal a dim orange room. The structure was completely different from where I had woken up. It was almost as if something supernatural had changed where the door led to.

Chopper quietly filled Luffy in on the situation. I couldn't tell if he looked excited or nervous in this light, and the sound he made didn't help differentiate the two.

Stepping into the room, I nearly gagged on the smell of blood. Inside the room was a horrific slaughter scene. Silhouettes of severed limbs lay strewn everywhere and enormous bloodstains splatter-painted the walls. A single orange light swung from side to side in the center of the ceiling. There were four doors lining the walls.

A lone table lay in the middle of the room with two figures strapped down. Luffy bounded up and I quickly followed. Upon closer inspection, I recognized the two as Zoro and Sanji. The moment Luffy touched the cuffs around their hands, he slumped down onto the floor.

"Kairoseki..." he muttered.

Of course, Chopper went to try next, and met the same fate as Luffy. I remembered my first encounter with the stone when I was trapped in Rain Dinners.

I stepped up to undo the cuffs, when one of the doors burst open and a dark figure ran unevenly across the room into one of the other doors, slamming it behind him. I jumped back, my heart racing. That was the scariest thing I had seen in a long time because it had no reason. Things with no reason are the scariest, in my opinion.

My heart continued to pound and my hands shook as I undid the cuffs. Zoro, his hair still orange (I snickered at this), rolled over onto Sanji, who I was untying. I pondered waking them up, or moving Zoro back just out of respect, until Zoro started to snore extremely loudly into Sanji's ear.

At this, I cracked up and bent in half laughing. I continued until Sanji jolted upright and took in his surroundings. He looked around at the bloodstained room, the scattered limbs, and at Zoro sprawled on top of him.

Then he looked up at me, still trying to contain my grin, and said, "Anni-chan? Am I in hell?"

Luffy and Chopper chose this moment to get up, which I suppose must have looked like them appearing out of nowhere. Sanji's unbelieving gaze turned to them as they grinned sheepishly.

The events for poor Sanji just snowballed into a massive pile of disbelief as Zoro at that moment woke up, still sprawled all over him.

I will spare you readers the detail of Sanji's mental breakdown, Chopper's frantic attempts to calm him, and Zoro's 'helpful' comments about Sanji being a wimp.

But when we were finally done, we pondered about what to do next. The limping man had run across the room a total of four times now in no pattern at all, and I freaked out every single time.

We decided to each try a room, and there would be one group of two. We had 'collectively' decided that the two mentally disturbed people (Sanji and I) should go together. We each stood in front of one door as, you guessed it, Host decided to show up again.

"Well, I see you are quite bold, splitting up. Should you stay apart? Or maybe staying together is better? Or is this just multiple layers of reverse psychology?"

Ignoring the voice, I boldly opened the door and stepped into one of the four final rooms. There was one chair in the middle.

"Do you want to sit down?" I asked Sanji awkwardly, "Or should we just stand around?"

Sanji robotically walked over to the chair and sat down. Immediately, he disappeared.

Confused and worried, I looked around the room. Finding nothing, I opened the door and walked back into the massacre room. A quick look around confirmed my suspicions that everyone else was gone.

I looked towards the wall that had no doors – correction now - one doorway. An eerie light filtered out of the curtain that obscured the contents of the room. I figured that there was nowhere else to go but forwards, so I pushed the curtain to the side and stepped in.

Immediately, I was consumed by whirling gray lights. Small specks of colour spun in circles around me until I couldn't tell left from right or up from down. An image seemed to appear in front of me, but I couldn't be sure whether it was really there or not.

A scene started to unfold. My nakama and another me appeared in a line, smiling peacefully. Then every person lifted their right arm holding a pistol and blew out the brains of the person next to them.

The blood seemed to fall in slow motion and splattered on the gray background. It slowly seeped in and spun around and around with the lights until the entire place was shades of red. The bodies fell backwards and faded out of sight.

I stared in disbelief, then screamed and lunged forwards as if I could catch them, but the room tipped upside-down and I fell, not down, but up. My body shot up and up, but a sudden jolt stopped me.

I still felt like falling, but something was gripping my ankle. Looking down, I shrieked in terror. It was myself. The one that had shot Chopper in the head.

It grinned up at me with flat blue eyes. I struggled in its grip, but it just squeezed harder. The pupils of its eyes widened, as did its smile. Its lips pulled back tighter and tighter into its cheeks until it didn't resemble a human face anymore. Small cracks formed and blood dripped out from the taught skin.

Its pupils expanded, running over the pale blue irises and through the white. The black continued to spread over its skin until it was completely black, except for its lips and teeth. The blood dripping down started to glow brighter red and its teeth sharpened.

The hand clutching my ankle released and I flew up, crumpling against the ceiling. I frantically scrambled to my feet as it sprung around the room, landing on invisible ledges and defying gravity.

"**Run, little human. Entertain me."**

A gravely voice, unlike Host's, came out of its mouth. Unnervingly, its mouth only opened and closed as it spoke.

I screamed and ran as fast as I could. There was no hope in defeating that thing. I would not even take the chance of stopping to attack it.

As I ran, the red lights swirled faster and faster. New colours began to appear. Neon colours spun the opposite way, and I couldn't find the wall as I ran.

The colours began to make me dizzy, and my legs involuntarily slowed down. I struggled to keep going, but my eyes drooped and my limbs felt like mud.

I slumped to the ground, and the last thing I saw was the enormous, bloody, pointy-toothed smile rush at my face.

XxX

"Goddammit, Anni! I swear, we need to keep a tracker on you!"

The noise of voices woke me up. I opened my eyes and sat up, and upon seeing that I was in a normally lit room, I relaxed a bit. The entire crew was clustered around me.

Nami leaned into my face and said, "Do you realize how long we were looking for you?"

I shook my head, confused by the turn of events.

"Maybe you should explain what's happening," Sanji interrupted gently, "See, Anni-chan, Nami and Usopp made a haunted house. You know, the one with all the rooms? Well, the last room was supposed to take all of us to the end. You didn't sit in one of the chairs, which was Usopp's mistake for not making enough, so we couldn't find you. Then when we were searching, we found you on the table in the second room."

"Uh," I started, "Two questions. First, where the hell did you set this up? Second, how the hell did you do the stuff behind that fifth door? That was terrifying!"

Usopp cleared his throat. "I set up the lights and Den Den Mushi and props in the boy's bunkroom this morning. Nami was very... strict about all the props."

"As for your second question," Nami interrupted, "Wait, what fifth door? There were only four."

"The fifth door going out of the second room. You know, the one with the spinning lights?" I said.

The entire crew was silent.

"Um... Anni," Nami started, "There was no space for us to make a fifth door. There were only four doors."

"What?! Then what about the shooting, and the second me that went black and tried to kill me?" I asked, agitated.

"Anni. There was no fifth room. You must have imagined it."

* * *

A/N

I'm baaaack! And extremely ashamed that I couldn't find more time to write. I'm working on the next chapter, which should be up soon. I hope to not have such a long break again.

Oh, and if this was too weird, or not scary enough, I'm sorry. It's whatever comes into my head.

See ya!


	23. Chapter 23: Departure

Anni's POV

The morning of the escape promised to be a beautiful day... for those of us who liked mornings. While I can admire the beauty of a sunrise, I don't _want_ get up or open my eyes to do so. So when Nami woke me up at some unearthly hour, I committed a terrible mistake: ignoring her.

"Anni. Anni, wake up!" Nami called, shaking my shoulder.

I groaned and rolled over, burying my face in my soft, squishy pillow. I was warm and sleepy, and the room was dark, just inviting me to drift back down into my twisted world of dreams. I had been having a wonderful dream of an adventure through a glowing cave. It was one of those mornings where the more I tried to remember my dream, the more it slipped through my fingers and into the realm of swirling nothingness comprised of forgotten dreams and single socks.

"Anni!"

The sharp voice broke through my dreamy thoughts and wrenched me back into the reality of the cold morning. I muttered a pathetic muffled, "Nooo... Go away..."

Nami sighed in exasperation, and I could tell her patience was wearing thin. Before she could snap, I pushed myself up and flopped limply to the side, resembling an L on the blanket. The soft, puffy blanket...

"Alright. You're awake. Now get dressed. We're leaving in five minutes," she said brusquely. Turning on her heel, she marched out of the door, no doubt on her way to wake up the male members of the crew.

Sighing, I grabbed the clothes she had tossed at me and began to put them on at the speed of a snail. My mind drifted off to the plan we had, and soon I had zoned out altogether. So far, my part of the plan was just to follow Nami's lead. She was in charge of getting all of the crew to escape the palace unseen. I would be the last resort if we got stuck, because I could burn down a door or part of a wall. In a _controlled_ way, mind you.

A small part of my mind, probably my conscience, gave me a little jolt, making me focus back on getting dressed. I shook my head a bit, and turned my attention back to the clothes.

Once I was dressed, I walked into the small bathroom to the side of my room to take a quick shower. I brushed my hair, and then I looked in the mirror in surprise at what I was wearing.

Nami had picked out an outfit for me that I actually didn't want to burn! I guess that her reasoning must be that if we are leaving the palace (and country) today, it wouldn't matter too much what I wore. It was just a pair of black shorts and a red tee-shirt, but it was the epitome of comfort compared to the dancer outfit I had worn as a disguise for the past few days.

Or maybe my pyjamas were more comfortable...

I stepped out of the bathroom just in time to see Nami storm back into the room. Her hair was frizzled, and I could only guess at what had happened.

"We're leaving now," she ordered with a tone that said not to argue.

Snapping my mouth shut, I gathered my things without complaint. In thirty seconds I was ready and following Nami's quick pace down the hall.

The door to the boy's room looked fine at first glance, but then I noticed the shallow finger sized dents in the door handle. Looks like the boys were being lazy. I opened the door to find a perfectly neat and tidy room. Although...

"Hello?" I called hesitantly entering the room. Nami waited out in the hall, tapping her foot impatiently.

A short groan answered my call. I peered past the door to be met with a painful, albeit expected, scene. All of the male members of the crew lay on the floor with huge lumps on their heads and the occasional black eye.

The scene was so pathetic that I burst out laughing.

"Let's go guys," I managed to choke out between laughs.

The boys struggled to their feet and trudged out the door, dragging their bags behind them.

Nami looked up from examining her fingernails as we exited the room. She marched briskly down the hall, motioning for us to stay quiet and follow her.

We did so, maybe not as quietly as one would have hoped, but we did it nonetheless. Fortunately, there were no servants in the hallways that we took. Nami had planned this out ahead, so I put my faith in her that we wouldn't be spotted.

As we slunk down the halls, the boys recovered quickly, but didn't say a word. It was almost eerie compared to the usual boisterousness of the crew.

Of course, we ran into a problem. It was inevitable, and I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before. It affected most of us. It was a terrible problem that hypnotized us into completely forgetting about the plan. What is it, you may ask?

The kitchen.

Or, more specifically, the delicious smell wafting out of the door as the cooks prepared breakfast. Mmm, bacon, eggs, pancakes, and other smells that possessed us with the urge to follow them through the kitchen door.

As we passed the door that led to the origin of those delicious smells, a rumble shook the corridor. Usopp and Chopper looked around frantically until Luffy and I giggled sheepishly. Stomachs can be loud things, you know.

Plan momentarily abandoned, Luffy and I strolled casually towards the door. A hand, probably Zoro's, grabbed the back of my collar, and I stopped dead in my tracks. Sanji grabbed Luffy's head, but his legs kept walking towards the door while his neck stretched at the same pace. It was really quite unnerving.

He managed to get the door open before Nami noticed. To my great surprise, all she did was order us to stay where we were as she ducked in, staff at the ready. A minute later, she snuck out of the kitchen with arms full of breakfast related items.

When she was done handing out the food, I asked her why she had such a sudden change in plans. She shrugged, saying if it kept Luffy and I full for another five minutes it would make the escape much easier to orchestrate.

The rest of the escape did, in fact, go smoothly. A few close calls, but nothing particularly of note.

We got out through the back door of the palace, and as soon as we did so, we all broke into a dead sprint. We tore through the back alleys of Alubarna (causing minimal damage) and out through the wall. We stayed to the edge of the jungle due to Zoro's recommendation. We all knew what happened there.

At the end, we stopped for a moment to catch our breath.

As I looked out at the desert, a question popped into my mind.

"Nami? How are we going to get through the desert?"

She grinned knowingly. "Alubarna is actually really close to the river. So, we're going with them."

She pointed a finger into the jungle, where a group of birds were running towards us. At the head of them, riding a familiar yellow bird, was...

"Vivi!" I exclaimed happily. "I thought you decided to stay!"

She jumped down and came to give me a hug. "I did. I'm just coming to the river with you. I didn't want the marines to catch you in the desert. Plus, it would take a long time to get through the desert."

"Alright everyone, choose a bird." Nami directed. We all jumped on the closest bird.

Unfortunately, the bird that I chose decided that it hated me the moment I touched it. I had just grabbed the saddle, when it sidestepped and sent me falling headfirst into the sand. Needless to say, there were quite a few laughs from various crew members.

Eventually, I clambered on and we were off towards the ship. The birds nearly flew across the sand as they ran. They fell into a formation that was constantly shifting to accommodate the birds energy levels.

We reached the ship in less than half an hour with no other problems, aside from the _idiotic _bird that tried to kill me every other minute. We loaded our things onto the Going Merry slowly, dragging it out.

I finally turned to Vivi with teary eyes. We embraced, hugging each other for what seemed to be ages. Suddenly, Nami joined in, then Chopper, and soon we were just one big group hug with a few tears here and there.

Eventually we broke away and boarded the ship. I waved over the edge as the sun rose behind Vivi and the distant silhouette of Alubarna.

The Going Merry slowly drifted down the river as we sat, not saying anything. As the ship entered the open ocean, a loud, familiar voice spoke. Vivi's voice weaved a beautiful speech through the Den Den Mushi speakers. Only when the voice began to talk about us was when Nami noticed the blue-haired figure standing on land.

We all rushed to the side of the ship and watched and listened in wonder as Vivi spoke about us. The speech came to a close, and the last words we heard were, "THANK YOU!"

I began to wave, but Zoro pulled my arm down, indicating to the marine ships that were heading for us. I began to panic that Vivi would think that we hadn't heard her, but Luffy solved the problem.

Silently, he raised his left arm; the one with the cross on it. We quickly copied the motion, backs to the land. Luffy later mentioned that he had seen Vivi also raise her arm when he glanced back. I can't pretend that we all had dry eyes.

...

**BOOM!**

A sudden explosion rocked the Going Merry. The marines had fired a cannon at us, and were preparing for more. I ran to the side that faced the danger and prepared to obliterate any and all projectiles fired at us.

The ships drew closer, firing all the while. We had quite a job keeping up with it, but we stayed on top of the constant onslaught of cannonballs. The battle seemed to rush past my eyes and time zoomed past.

Just as our energy seemed to be exhausted, the two ships sunk and a very familiar ship appeared. One that was distinctly feminine, with similar occupants.

A shout from Bon Kurei on the approaching boat drew our attention.

"What are you still doing here?" he called as his men gathered around.

I ran to the side of the Merry and braced for a battle. However, Luffy replied, "We were waiting for a friend, so we could say goodbye."

Evidently, that struck a chord with our acquaintance-turned-enemy-turned-... what exactly now? Ally? as he burst into noisy tears, spouting mush about friendship.

"Waaah! It is so beautiful to hear tales of brokenhearted friends who leave each other to have grand adventures on the sea! The stories where one stays on land, and the other is thrown into a vicious pelagic storm of a journey!" he wailed, then collected himself, "I have come to warn you. The captain of the marine headquarters in this area is searching for you. Her name is Black Cage Hina."

This got our attention. We paid close attention as he described the lady that was coming for us. Then he said something surprising.

"I will pose as you to distract her! You must escape before she comes!"

"What?" Luffy asked. I echoed him. This was all so confusing.

Bon Kurei repeated his offer once more. It actually seemed quite serious, until Luffy and Bon Kurei both burst into 'tears of friendship'.

As they quieted down, Hina's ship appeared over the horizon. Bon Kurei and his men said their goodbyes as they sailed towards the marine captain.

Leaning over the side, Luffy yelled, "We will never forget you!"

The brave Okama's face turned into that of Luffy's as he sailed away towards the approaching silhouette.

Huh, I guess that guy was actually a good guy. By pirate standards, anyway.

XxX

A little while later (after I was done crying my eyes out over Vivi), we stumbled across a problem. A problem that came in the shape of the black-haired lady that Luffy had rescued from Crocodile. She was sitting in _my_ chair (that she had _moved!_) and looked extremely smug. I didn't like her at all.

"What are you doing _here_?" I asked incredulously, "Shouldn't you go back to Arabasta or something?"

Luffy, drawn by the sound of my shout, also joined, though a lot calmer. I was firing off questions, and he added a few here and there. Soon the rest of the crew had gathered, and the racket increased quite a bit.

The lady stood up, and we quieted, listening for what she was going to say. However, it was not at all what I expected.

"My name is Nico Robin, and I am here to join your crew."

"What?!" I exclaimed angrily, "No! You can't just jump on our ship and expect us to like you! Much less want you around all the time!"

"Luffy saved me from Crocodile, even though I wanted to die. I have no one to live for, and nowhere to go, so at least grant me this." she said sincerely, though her black eyes sparkled.

Luffy stepped up, though I didn't know what he would say.

"Fine. You can join us. But," he started fiercely, "If you hurt any one of my nakama, I will kill you on the spot."

Unsettled grumbling rose up, but each person's problems were addressed in some way by Robin. Nami was happy to have another girl (was I not good enough? *sniff*), Sanji immediately fell for her, and the rest of the crew felt indifferent, albeit wary. Save for Zoro and I.

Zoro just seemed to not like her, as did I. However, I had another reason. She had moved and then sat down in my chair. This was unacceptable! I would hate this person for the rest of my days and then some. No one was allowed on my chair! Except, well, people like Luffy... and Chopper... and maybe Usopp... and Nami if her chair was taken... and Zoro kind of just lay everywhere... and Sanji sat there sometimes... and Vivi sat in it occasionally... and Ace... But NOT Robin! That was just mean!

I stomped off, sulking, to the crows nest, where I sat down so nobody could see me, took off my shoes, and tossed them in Zoro's general direction. By the sounds of resentment, I didn't miss.

I sat in the crow's nest for quite a while. Although it was small, there was room enough for one, maybe two people. The sun began to set, and Nami called me down. I replied no, I didn't want to come down, I'd do the entire night shift.

XxX

Night fell, and I was almost asleep, when a soft tap and a dim light woke me.

"Yo," a familiar voice said quietly.

I looked up and smiled when I saw Ace's face. He crouched on the side of the crow's nest. Tiny flames licked his feet as he had likely leaped up to the top of the mast from his little flame-propelled speedboat.

He stepped down and sat next to me. I scooted over a bit to make room in the small area.

"What are you doing here?" I asked quietly, "I didn't see you in the morning."

He smirked. "I have something to talk to my little brother about, but I figured I'd say hi to you first. Besides," he poked my cheek, " I didn't get to say goodbye, did I?"

"Actually, I'm pretty sure you left on your own time," I muttered to myself.

He chuckled, poking me again. We lapsed into a comfortable silence as the waves gently rocked the boat. He stood up after a while and swung over the edge down onto the deck. I heard him duck into the boys' bunk and the faint murmur of quiet conversation.

Just to reassure my conscience that, yes, in fact I was doing my job, I scanned the horizon for land or other ships. Seeing none, gazed out on the calm sea. For the first time since leaving the bar, I felt at peace with what was happening. My life was changing. I was going to become a pirate. No, I was a pirate. And I could be myself with my crew.

Except for Robin, who _forced her way into the crew because Luffy saved her life!_ I mean geez, shouldn't she just be grateful that she's alive? Yeah, okay, I was feeling a little bitter about her joining, but mostly about the fact that she took my chair! I wouldn't trust her with my life, or that of my nakama, but at least I got the feeling that she wasn't going to try and murder us in our sleep.

Two warm arms wrapping around me brought me out of my thoughts.

"Scowling isn't a pretty look," Ace whispered in my ear.

I sighed, turning my head to meet his eyes.

"I was thinking about the lady who wants to join our crew. I don't really like her."

"You don't like her, or you don't trust her?" he asked.

"A bit of both, I think," I stated after thinking for a moment.

He paused for a moment. "Luffy told me about her. He seems to think that she needs a place and people to trust. He said that he is going to trust her until she proves untrustworthy."

"That sounds like Luffy," I laughed.

Ace's hands came down to rest on opposite sides of my waist. He sat down on the floor of the crow's nest, pulling me with him so I was sitting on his lap.

"Where are you going now?" I asked quietly.

He paused, and for a moment I thought he wouldn't answer.

"I'm still going to go after Blackbeard. It is my responsibility to do that." He said, but his voice had a resigned undertone.

"Once you catch him, where will you go?"

There was another short pause.

"I will rejoin my crew, the Whitebeard Pirates. I don't know when that will be. I've heard rumors that he ate the Devil Fruit he stole, and now has incredible powers," he said, hugging me closer, "But that's not a problem. I'm definitely going to beat him."

I laughed. "You sound like Luffy when you say that. No wonder you two are related."

"Actually..."

I thought I hadn't heard it at first, the soft whisper. Now, looking back on the moment, I definitely had. I thought I had imagined it, or that it was just a breeze.

I paused, waiting for Ace to repeat himself. When he didn't, I figured that he hadn't said anything.

"I... should go..." Ace said, but he sounded unsure.

I swiveled ninety degrees to one side and put my arms around him.

"No," I whispered, "I think you can stay a few more minutes."

Those few minutes passed quickly with pointless conversations, insults, and tickling. Then they transformed into another hour or so, until the moon lay low on the horizon.

Finally, Ace stood up. As he did, my mind suddenly asked, _what if this Blackbeard person is too strong? Ace hasn't seen him after he ate the Devil Fruit._ I tried to reassure myself that Ace would be fine, but my mind kept coming up with horrible scenarios.

My worry must have shown on my face, because as I was lost in my world of dark things, I felt a pair of lips press to my forehead and two hands rest on my shoulders.

"I'll see you again. Trust me."

Those words echoed in my mind, clearing all doubt. Still...

"If you die, I will track you down and kill you."

My childish words must have sounded amusing, but I could tell that the older boy in front of me knew what I was trying to convey.

"Alright. I'll remember that," he smiled.

He turned away and jumped off the edge onto his tiny boat. I heard him speed away as I turned my face towards the dim purple light on the horizon that indicated the rising of the sun.

I would see him again, I was sure of that.

XxX

"I don't _want _to sit next to her! Sanji! Can I sit beside you instead? Nami can take my spot!"

I grumbled as my plea for help was refused. I wanted to eat as much breakfast as I could and then go to sleep in my chair to save its poor fabric from the clutches of Robin. But I couldn't! Why? Because she was _there_ sitting beside me! Some sadistic streak of coincidence caused Sanji to put my plate in between Nami's and Robin's.

The lady in question smiled knowingly sideways as she daintily ate. I scowled and stabbed at my food in response. To make it worse, Zoro, sitting at the other end of the table, snickered silently at my misfortune.

I ate the rest of my breakfast in silence as the conversation resumed at a normal pace. Normal being subjective, of course.

Finished, I walked out of the kitchen to the sounds of shouting and cutlery being embedded in the floor, walls, and table. I sat down in my chair and almost immediately fell asleep and started dreaming.

_I was following Nami, who was skipping down the aisle of the nail polish shop, when I spotted Luffy and Chopper sitting on the floor. There were open bottles of nail polish around them, and they seemed to be painting small, rectangular tins. Chopper opened a new tin and filled it with three tiny sticks of dynamite. He then painted the inside and outside of the tin before closing it. I sat down next to them and followed their lead. Soon, we had a pile of the tiny bombs. The ceiling of the shop opened dramatically, and a hot air balloon commanded by Robin let down a ladder. Luffy, Chopper, and I climbed up the ladder while Nami followed with two tiny bags, one nail polish bottle in each. Once we were all in, the hot air balloon began to fly away. Chopper and I spontaneously sprouted wings, so we each took an armful of tiny bombs and jumped out of the balloon. We started chucking them every which way, until a swarm of ladybugs flew at us, screaming loud enough to propel us back to the balloon. Thankfully, the smoke from the explosions covered our escape, and Robin was able to fly us away. Then, a Harpy with the face of Crocodile appeared battling a dragon. The fight was intense, so we didn't notice that they were getting too close until they ripped the balloon's fabric. We went plummeting to the ground, but just before we hit-_

I woke up, but kept my eyes closed. That had to be one of the stranger dreams. Although, now that I thought about it, Robin didn't seem so bad. At least not when flying a hot air balloon.

I opened my eyes and was about to march into the cabin, when I noticed that she was reading in the chair next to me. I jumped in surprise and frowned at her, but then grudgingly said, "Fine! I guess I won't be mad at you for joining the crew. As long as you stay out of my chair!"

She smiled and put down her book.

"Thank you, I appreciate it. But, if I may ask, where did this sudden change come from?"

I scowled at her before grumbling, "You made a good hot air balloon pilot. At least when we were bombing a mall." I added under my breath, "Until that Harpy and dragon ripped the damn thing."

Lost in thought as to why Chopper and I didn't grow wings again when we were falling, I missed the small amused chuckle Robin gave. As she went back to her book, I flopped back down in my chair and promptly fell back asleep.

A/N

* * *

I can't believe my lack of inspiration lately. I don't know what's up! Anyways, I just wanted to say thank you for waiting, and I really hope that my inspiration will come back. Let me make this clear also, I love all the members of the crew! I was thinking back to when I first saw Robin, and I thought:_ No! She was evil! I don't trust her! _Only for a few episodes though. Anni's dream was partially based on my dream last night and one I had a week ago.

I will try and do a Christmas chapter, so if you have suggestions I would love to hear them!

Feedback is always appreciated!

See ya!


	24. Chapter 24: Christmas

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any of its characters. Although, if Oda wanted to give me Ace, or Zoro, or Sanji, or Luffy, or Law I wouldn't complain. Also, I don't own any books (yet) so titles are purely made up and do not relate to any real-life ones.**

* * *

Anni's POV

"What?! A secret santa?!"

Nami grinned as the whole crew looked at her in surprise.

"Yup! We're coming up on an island that is famous for gift-giving, and since it's Christmas, I thought this would be the perfect time!"

Although there were mixed reactions, all of us expressed some kind of satisfaction. From Luffy and Usopp dancing around Chopper and I who were jumping up and down in glee, to Zoro who looked on in mild interest.

Getting our attention by shaking a hat, Nami gestured to the little strips of paper inside it.

"All our names have been written on these pieces of paper. Everyone is going to pick one, and that's the person that you have to buy a present for. There will be _no_ trading." she said, looking pointedly at Luffy.

"I wanna pick first!" I said, jumping over the dancing couple. I landed directly in front of Nami and plunged my hand into the hat. Swirling my hand around, I grabbed a strip of paper and looked at the name, hiding it from prying eyes with my hand.

Immediately my face dropped.

_'Robin'_

I scowled at Nami over Chopper's head as he picked a name and squealed in excitement. She smiled innocently back and mouthed _'no trading'_.

"Oh, come on," I muttered to myself.

A frustrated groan came from Zoro as he glared daggers at the paper as if it had personally insulted him.

Nami clapped her hands and announced, "We'll reach the island tomorrow, so think about the gift you want to get for your secret santa."

XxX

As the rambunctious dinner proceeded, I leaned over to Nami and quietly and subtly asked, "What the hell would Robin want?"

Nami batted away a stray Luffy hand. "Hmm, I don't really know. She seems to like reading, so you could get her a book," she suggested.

Thinking back, I realized that yes, in fact, Robin did read a lot. However, I didn't pay attention to the specifics of her books, so I decided on the absolute best, fool-proof plan I could come up with.

Snooping around.

After dinner, I snuck down to the girls' room. Next to the mattress that had previously belonged to Vivi sat Robin's bag of personal belongings. No, I wasn't going to snoop through it, that would be a violation of privacy, and everyone (that I liked or at least put up with) is entitled to that. No, I was going to snoop _around_ it.

I quickly spotted a pile of books next to her bag. Jumping over the mattress, I picked up the one on the top and looked at the cover. It was a book about the history of Arabasta. Sounded boring if you asked me.

The next book was a murder mystery by an author I had heard of. I flipped open the first few pages and realized that I had read the prequel to this one during my time at the bar. Hm, interesting. I remembered that the book I read was particularly gory and dark. I liked it a lot.

I went through the fairly sizable stack of books, most of them being history, murder mystery, or action. There was the odd romance as well. The book at the bottom of the stack caught my eye though. The title read _Forbidden Affairs._ And it was the exact same yaoi book I was currently making my way through!

I contemplated asking her about it, but I decided against it. Nami would likely overhear, and I could to nobly relate to the threats of our cunning treasurer.

Well, I found somethings we had in common. Murder mystery, action, and yaoi.

Oh! A wonderful idea sprung into my head. The author of _Forbidden Affairs_ had published a second book called _Forbidden Destiny_ and it apparently brought together the three genres that Robin and I evidently had in common.

Not that I thought I could borrow it afterwards, that's preposterous!

Yosh! Plan in mind, I tiptoed out of the room and confidently sauntered back up to the main deck.

XxX

I stood in front of the bookshop, wondering if I had enough money. Nami had been... conservative to say the least. Stingy was how Zoro had put it. I think she almost added more onto his debt, but when he quickly mentioned the season of kindness and apologized, she let it slide. I saw the little smirk he had as she walked away though.

I strode in, a tiny bell jangling as I did so. Immediately the smell of new books caught my attention, as did the gorgeous Christmas decorations. Thankfully, the shelves were labeled so I didn't have to wander around for ages. I found what I was looking for relatively quickly, and brought it to the front of the store to pay.

The cashier, a bored looking girl a few years older than me, smiled when she saw my choice of reading material.

"Is this for you, or would you like it gift-wrapped?" she smiled, adding, "By the way, this is one of the best books I've read in a long time."

I handed the money over, and replied, "If you could gift-wrap it, that would be great. It's a present for a friend." I decided that it would be easier to label Robin as a friend for conversational purposes. "But that doesn't mean that I don't plan on reading it after her!"

She laughed as she wrapped up the book. "Was she the one that told you about this series?"

"Nope. I just found out that we have this in common this morning," I replied. "I found it on my own in a shop when I was looking around."

"That's what happened with my girlfriend too!" the cashier exclaimed, "She was looking around here and found it."

I looked around the store one last time as the girl finished wrapping Robin's present. A thin book caught my eye, and I walked over and grabbed it. Perfect for Robin. I brought it back and paid for it, before popping it in the bag with the other one.

"Bye!" I waved to my new friend at the cashier desk.

She waved back. "Come back soon!"

As I casually made my way back through the town, I spotted a few of my nakama running hectically through the streets. Chopper and Nami were strolling down the street, but when they saw me, they ran back the way they came. A panicked looking Usopp nearly knocked me over, and a sullen Sanji dragged a gleeful Luffy away from the butcher shop.

I leaped onto the deck of the Going Merry (a skill that I had perfected through my time with the crew) to find Zoro sitting smugly on the deck, a surprisingly neatly wrapped present sitting beside him. The present was small and flat, and moved slightly as a gust of wind hit it.

"You're back already?" he asked sleepily, putting a hand over the present.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" I replied. "I mean, how on earth did you buy a present that fast?"

Zoro laughed. "Technically, all I got was wrapping paper."

I laughed at that; everything from what it was to who it was for was implied in that one phrase.

XxX

"C'mon Nami, can we open them now?" I questioned the present-giving-organizer.

Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp were currently line-dancing with chopsticks shoved up their noses and alcoholic beverages in their hands around the pile of presents.

The pile consisted of many different shapes, sizes, and colours of wrapped presents. Mine was in a nice gift bag from the book shop; Chopper's was the size of a pillow; Zoro's was tiny and wrapped in shimmery green wrapping paper; Sanji had left two, one oddly shaped with sharp angles and points, and the other, which was small and rectangular; Usopp's was also rectangular, but much bigger; Nami wrapped something cube-shaped; Luffy's present was by far the biggest, and was almost as tall as his waist and longer than Zoro lying down (a reliable measurement); Robin had put down something rectangular that was wrapped in pretty purple and yellow paper.

It really made a sight to look at as the sun set and the crew bounced around restless. Most of us anyways. I still couldn't persuade Zoro to join in the line-dancing.

Nami clapped her hands to get our attention. She reached down for the first present, which happened to be Usopp's. "The person who receives the present will then give their present to the person it is for. We'll start with Usopp. Make sense?"

We nodded excitedly and watched as Usopp gave the present to Chopper, who ripped the paper off to reveal a large book about horrifying diseases that sailors and pirates get on the sea. He squealed and threw himself at Usopp for a hug.

After, Chopper handed his present to me. Upon opening it, I found a huge bag of marshmallows in many flavours. I hugged the little reindeer and spun him around and thanked him. He might have been a little dizzy when I put him down.

I then handed my bag to Robin. I held my breath as she unwrapped it, and then silently burst out laughing as she read the title of the book. She surreptitiously covered the summary on the back as the jostling bundle of arms and legs that was Luffy and Usopp barged in to see. Her face was a portrait of surprise and happiness, but she toned it down to mild excitement as she genuinely thanked me. I responded in kind, then pointed to the bag.

"There's something else in the bag," I informed her.

Robin reached a slender had into the bag and pulled out _Hot Air Balloon Flying For Beginners._ This time, the entire crew burst out laughing. I guess the news had spread about my weird dream.

Next, Robin handed her present to Sanji, who nearly swooned as he received an electric blender for the kitchen. After thanking her profusely, the cook handed the two presents he wrapped to Zoro, with instructions to open the strangely shaped one first. I jumped in to intervene when Zoro tried to attack Sanji for giving him a watering can 'for that grassy moss-plant head of yours'.

When he had calmed down a bit, the aforementioned moss-plant head opened the second present. It was a not-shitty quality sword care set. Zoro looked at it in surprise, and mumbled out a thank-you, which Sanji replied to. With no insult! I nearly fainted in shock! (Well, not really, but some things you have to be dramatic about)

Zoro then tossed the tiny present to Nami, who caught it and unwrapped it. She jumped in glee when she took out the money she had given Zoro for a present. Minus the wrapping paper cost of course.

Nami then handed Usopp the strange cube-shaped present. His eyes widened as he opened an assortment of flammable, explosive, and poisonous powders for his slingshot ammunition.

"Where do you think she got that?" I muttered sideways to Zoro.

He leaned towards me and replied, "I don't think I want to know."

The present-giving had gone full circle, but there was still one present left. Or... actually... We all turned to Luffy, who had ripped the shiny red paper off of the last, huge, present and was happily chomping down on the biggest drumstick I had ever seen.

"YOU PICKED YOURSELF?!" Nami yelled in disbelief. "AND YOU GOT THAT?!"

"Mmf." Luffy mumbled affirmatively. "Mah gobt _dsust_ wat Mah wamnpebd."

As Nami continued to stare in shock, the rest of the crew started using their presents, drinking, dancing, eating, and sometimes all four.

"Where do you think he got that?" I muttered sideways to Zoro again.

He leaned towards me and replied, "I don't think I want to know."

Needless to say, the rest of the night passed with much fun, alcohol, presents, and violence. I may or may not have subtly read over Robin's shoulder while eating strawberry marshmallows. Luffy almost ate until he was full, but he still had room for the dessert Sanji whipped up in his new blender after he finished the drumstick. Usopp almost set himself on fire, and Chopper interpreted it as a spontaneous combustion disease. Nami spent the time counting the money Zoro gave her. Overall, I think it was the best Christmas I had ever had.

* * *

A/N

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or whatever I missed. I hope you're having a good time! Still no snow for me... and I live in Canada! Honestly...

Feedback is always appreciated!

See ya!


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